The Ladue Horton Watkins High School swim teams made waves this year in academic rankings! The National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association of America (NISCA) All-American Scholar Team rankings have been released, and all Ladue Schools aquatic teams ranked exceptionally well!
Teams qualify for three levels of All-American Scholar Award status based on their average cumulative GPA: Bronze Level is 3.200-3.499; Silver Level is 3.500-3.749; and Gold Level is 3.750-4.000 (with 4.000 being the highest).
The Girls Swimming & Diving Team of 22 Varsity members achieved the highest Average Cumulative GPA of 3.821 of all LHWHS aquatic teams, earned the Gold Level Award and ranked tied for the 34th Best Scholastic Girls Team in the country out of 140 teams that qualified for All-American status.
The Boys Water Polo Team of 18 varsity members, made up of 13 boys and 5 girls, achieved an Average Cumulative GPA of 3.722, earned the Silver Level Award and ranked the 28th Best Scholastic Boys Team in the country out of 124 teams that qualified for All-American status.
And the Boys Swimming & Diving Team of 30 varsity members achieved an Average Cumulative GPA of 3.689, earned the Silver Level Award and ranked the 35th Best Scholastic Boys Team in the nation out of the 124 teams that qualified for All-American status.
“While our aquatics programs have grown with strength, depth and state recognition, our students clearly maintain focus on what really matters — academics!” Coach Hap Gentry said. “Coach Clay and I stress to our teams that we are students first and athletes second. All of the members of our aquatic teams take this to heart, and this is quite an honor for them. It also makes us proud to work with such focused students and athletes, both in and out of the pool.”
Varsity Members of the Girls Swimming & Diving Team are: Elisa Bailey (10), Elizabeth Collinger (12), Sarah Cossman (11), Sarah Crews (11), Riley Deutsch (11), Sophia Garland (12), Sarah Green (12), Eva Jeliazkova (12), Joanna Jurgiel (9), Olivia Jurgiel (11), Taylor Korte (11), Akou Kouassi (12), Erica Lee (10), Leda Liang (10), Erin McKenzie (10), Kela Munnerlyn (10), Paige Paddock (11), Marisa Pummer (11), Anna Reichert (11), Monty Rickey (9), Julia Tackes (12), and Anna Waltke (11).
Varsity Members of the Boys Swimming & Diving Team are: Alex Benduski (10), Dixon Bezzant (10), Noah Blucher (12), Collin Connors (12), Shrey Dharnidharka (10), Noah Douaihy (11), Jacob Elliott (11), Cedrick Everaert (11), Avery Fredman (10), Luyi Gao (9), Michael Heins (11), Zachary Helmkampf (12), Joel Hsieh (10), Ayush Kaw (10), Yan-Alexander Kefalov (12), Noah Krause (12), Tom Liu (12), Nathaniel Marsters (9), Iyayi Ogbevoen (11), Michael Raskin (10), Joseph Rater (12), Reid Rogers (10), Reis Rosenbloom (12), Parkes Rowe (10), Collin Schott (12), Kenji Sherman (11), Jordan Smith (12), Austin Szweda (11), Lachlan Thompson (12), and Brandon Yan (9).
Varsity Members of the Boys Water Polo Team (classified by NISCA as a Boys team mixed with girls) are: Dixon Bezzant (10), Collin Connors (12), Noah Douaihy (11), Cedrick Everaert (11), Sarah Green (12), Zachary Helmhampf (12), Joel Hsieh (10), Eva Jeliazkova (12), Olivia Jurgiel (11), Yan-Alexander Kefalov (12), Noah Krause (12), Tom Liu (12), Paige Paddock (11), Kenji Sherman (11), Jordan Smith (12), Austin Szweda (11), Lachlan Thompson (12), and Nicole Thompson (11).
Over 344,755 students are involved in aquatics at the high school level in over 16,294 programs for boys’ and girls’ programs in the nation.