65 Swimmers Take Home All-ODAC Honors

FOREST, Va. --- It was a banner year for ODAC men's and women's swimming, highlighted by national championship performances and an abundance of records broken and reset.  To cap the 2015-16 season, the ODAC announces its annual All-ODAC Men's and Women's Swimming Teams, which feature 65 athletes from its swimming membership.

Position on an All-ODAC swimming team is based on an athlete's highest finishing position in any individual event in which they competed at the ODAC Swimming Championships.  A swimmer that places first or second in an event earns All-ODAC First Team status, while a third or fourth place showing is accompanied by an All-ODAC Second Team spot.  The All-ODAC Third Team is made up of those individuals whose highest placing was fifth or sixth in an event.

ODAC Championship Results
ODAC Women's Record Book
ODAC Men's Record Book

On the women's side, 34 athletes earned positions on the All-ODAC teams with 20 repeating as all-conference honorees.  Nine of those recurring standouts earned a spot on the first team.  ODAC Swimmer of the Year, Michaela Nolte, and Jessica Richardson represent Emory & Henry College as repeat first teamers, while Cassidy Fuller, Elisabeth Holmes, Emily Rollo, and Kira Tomenchok did the same for Washington and Lee University.  The Generals' Haylee Rademann and Sarah Schaffer moved up from the second team last year, while Emma Swabb made the leap from the third team.  W&L's Elle Chancey, the ODAC Rookie of the Year, makes her inaugural appearance on the All-ODAC First Team.

In total, 30 ODAC overall and championship events feature new names and record times in the conference women's record book.  Nolte leads the charge in terms of individual marks as she reset or established six league records, split evenly amongst the championship and overall ranks.  Rollo attached her name to five new standards, while Holmes is the owner of four new records.  When it comes to relays, Washington and Lee reset all five overall records and four championship marks.

On the national stage, six women from ODAC schools made noise at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C. Rollo swam her way to All-America recognition in three events.  Nolte proved she was among the nation's best with strong performances in a trio of disciplines, while Chancey, Fuller, and Holmes joined Rollo and Nolte in individual event competition.  The Generals added appearances in three different relays, including the 800-yard freestyle relay that saw Jordan Watson team with Chancey, Fuller and Holmes in helping W&L to an ODAC record in the event.

In the men's ranks, 31 swimmers garnered All-ODAC recognition with 17 appearing for the second straight year.  The first team features 10 of those repeat honorees, including Randolph-Macon's Ivan Fadeyev, Robert Redenz, and Mohamed Saleh. W&L's Trent Babcock, Thomas Caldwell, Thomas Ferguson, Noah Schammel, and ODAC Swimmer of the Year, Tommy Thetford, also earned a place on the top team last season. The Generals' Andrew Botelho and Corey Connelly stepped up to the first team from the second team.  ODAC Rookie of the Year, W&L's Sam Childress, opens his career as a first team honoree.

Much like the conference's female swimmers, records aplenty were established in 2015-16, totalling 21 new overall and championship standards.  R-MC's Nick Burton posted a pair of overall marks, while Redenz and Schammel added their names to one overall and one championship event each.  W&L relays set four benchmarks at the ODAC Championships, which doubled as conference overall records.

Thetford etched his name next to six conference records, establishing each at the ODAC championships and then resetting the overall marks in the freestyle sprints during his historic showing at the national championships.  In Greensboro, Thetford represented the ODAC men's membership in near swimmer of the meet fashion as he claimed gold medals in the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyles and touched the wall as the runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle.

Washington and Lee mentor Kami Gardner earned ODAC Coach of the Year honors in both the men's and women's ranks. This is her fourth women's top coaching award and first men's laurel, the latter of which occuring in just the second season for ODAC men's swimming awards.  Gardner saw both squads eclipse 1,000 points in capturing conference titles -- the 26th overall and ninth straight for the women and second in as many season's for the men.  Generals swimmers set a multitude of conference and school records, and capped the season with a stellar showing at the NCAA Division III national championships.

W&L's Stephanie Foster collects her third straight ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award, while Randolph-Macon's Josh Carter corralls the first for R-MC's men's program.  Foster maintains a 3.947 grade point average as a French and Philosophy major.  She is a two-time CSCAA Honorable Mention Academic All-American, having also previously earned CoSIDA Academic All-District status.  She is the President of W&L's chapter of the Phi Sigma Tau International Philosophy Honor Society, in addition to membership in Phi Kappa Beta.  In the pool, Foster earned a spot on the All-ODAC Second Team after third place finishes in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstrokes. She earned first team accolades in each of the previous three seasons.

Carter boasts a 3.81 grade point average as Engineering and Physics majors with minors in Mathematics and Computer Science. A Presidential Scholar, he earned the Phi Beta Kappa Sophomore Award in addition to the Watts Scholarship and R.L. Moore Calculus Prize. He is a member of Chi Beta Phi (scientific) and Sigma Pi Sigma (physics) national honor societies. In the water, Carter finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke to earn second team honors. He was a third team swimmer last season.

Below is a complete look at the 2016 ODAC Men's and Women's Swimming All-Conference Teams.  For more on ODAC Swimming, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com.  Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook, or follow @odacathletics on Twitter.