Three Earn CSCAA Scholar All-America Individual Honors

East Lansing, Mich. – Three Michigan state student athletes Amanda Ling (Wixom, Mich.) And swimmers Erin Szara (Northville, Mich.) Yes Travis Nitkiewicz (Novi, Mich.) Named for the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America lists. Ling was the choice of the first team, while both Nitkiewicz and Szara deserved an honorable mention.

Complete CSCAA publication

The annual award recognizes students who achieved an average of 3.50 or higher and were invited to compete in their own national championship.

First-Team Scholar All-America students must have earned a minimum of 3.5 GPA and participate in a national championship. The second team selections (also called an honorable mention) must have earned a minimum of 3.50 GPA and reach the National Championship B-time standard or attend a dive zone qualifier.

This season, Nitkiewicz is the recipient of both the Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and Academic All-Big Ten awards, as well as the winner of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. At the Big Ten Championships, he swam the best of his lifetime in a hundred breast races and was also the first alternate to the 200 breast finals, earning NCAA “B” cuts at both events. Big Tens also had some of MSU’s 200 medey posts and was MSU’s best ranking in 200 IM.

Szara wrapped up her Spartan career with both an academic All-Big Ten and a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. He swam in the U.S. Wave I in early June and finished 34th in 100 chests. In the busy Big Ten Championships, he finished eighth in 100 chest (NCAA B qualifiers) and 19^th200 chest. He also competed in 50 freerolls and helped 400 in the medley and 400 in the top 10.

Ling graduated from his MSU career as one of the most decorated Spartans to come through the program. Ling won the academic honor of the most prestigious swimming and diving season of 2020, the NCAA Elite 90 Award. The Elite 90 will be presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative average grade point participation in the final spot in each NCAA Championship. In addition, the graduate in May 2021 was one of eight senior student athletes at Spartan who handed out the prestigious President’s Award at the SASS Student Students Gala and was an MSU Female Big Ten Medal of Honor. Ling is the top ten prestigious scholars and academic All-Big Ten selection, and is also a quadruple of the American Collegiate Association of Swimming Coaches (CSCAA). He progressed to the NCAA Championship weekend as a parent for the first time in his career, where he got 247.95 in the 1M diving competition and finished 37th nationally.