OKLAHOMA CITY (May 21, 2020) –
Andrew Assaleh became the first Oklahoma Christian swimmer ever to make the Academic All-District At-Large list when he was honored Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
The CoSIDA honor recognizes student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom and is considered one of the most prestigious in collegiate athletics. To qualify for the honor, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.3 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, have reached sophomore status athletically, have legitimate athletic credentials and have been at the nominating institution at least one calendar year.
For the 2019-20 academic year only, selections to the Academic All-District At-Large teams used career – instead of season – athletic accomplishments, as some winter and all spring sports (including golf) had their seasons either ended prematurely or cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Academic All-District awards are divided into eight geographic districts and four divisions. OC student-athletes compete for awards against their counterparts from other Division II schools. District 6 includes universities that are members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic and Lone Star Conferences – a total of 35 schools. Sports information directors from those universities vote for the Academic All-District team. OC competes in the LSC in all sports except men's and women's swimming, in which the university competes in the RMAC.
Sports that fall under the "At-Large" umbrella for CoSIDA award purposes are beach volleyball, bowling, lacrosse, rifle, crew, skiing, fencing, swimming, field hockey, tennis, golf, gymnastics, water polo and ice hockey. An OC golfer, Andres Brictson, joined Assaleh on the Academic All-District At-Large list.
Assaleh, a junior from Oklahoma City, carries a perfect 4.0 GPA in Finance and was the runner-up (to teammate
Micah Young) for the RMAC's Summit Award, given to the swimmer at the RMAC Championships who has the highest GPA. Assaleh, a member of the OC team in all three seasons of its existence, was an RMAC All-Academic first-team pick in both 2019 and 2020.
He also received the Division II Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award in 2019 and made the Heartland Conference President's Honor Roll in all four semesters in which he was eligible for that award.
In the pool, Assaleh qualified for the A final in the 200-yard breaststroke at the RMAC Championships this year.
He now will advance to the ballot for the CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large team, which will be selected through a vote of sports information directors from NCAA Division II schools in the U.S. and Canada. That list will be announced in mid-June.
