Swimming & Diving Places Four on A-10 All-Academic Teams

3/20/2019 1:38:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving, Academic Services

Peter Nachtwey, Emils Pone, Emily Zhang & Miranda Simon were honored Wednesday

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Peter Nachtwey, Emils Pone, Emily Zhang and Miranda Simon of George Washington swimming and diving have earned Atlantic 10 All-Academic honors, the conference announced Wednesday.

The academic accolades come after a strong showing for both sides at the recent A-10 Championships with the men claiming their third title and the women equaling their best finish in second.

It's the ninth consecutive season that the program has landed multiple academic honorees and earned recognition on both the men's and women's lists.

"We're extremely proud of our team's academic and athletic accomplishments this year," head coach Brian Thomas said. "Emils, Miranda, Peter and Emily personify our vision for the program - academic excellence while competing at the highest possible levels.

"Shelby (McKay) and Danya (Ellman) work tirelessly to make sure our academic pursuits are met while also balancing the extreme commitment associated with being a Division I student-athlete. Our future is very bright thanks to these student-athletes and the work of our staff."

Nachtwey is an All-Academic pick for the first time after a tremendous sophomore season on the diving boards.

The Ohio native was named Most Outstanding Diver at the A-10 Championships after earning gold (3-meter) and silver (1-meter). He closed his season last week at the NCAA Zone A Championships, setting a GW record for platform diving (271.35).

An International Affairs major, Nachtwey owns a 3.77 cumulative GPA. He's active in GW's Leadership Academy and a SAAC representative, as well.

A repeat All-Academic honoree, Pone won six gold medals at the A-10 Championships, highlighted by a conference-record swim in the 400-yard individual medley (3:47.52).

The junior from Latvia also took the 100-yard backstroke (:47.27) and 200-yard backstroke (1:43.95) individually and was part of record-breaking efforts in the 200-yard medley (1:27.06), 400-yard medley (3:12.06) and 800-yard free (6:28.60) relays. Last week, he earned two additional medals at the season-ending CSCAA National Invitational Championship.

In the classroom, Pone has compiled a 3.77 GPA as a Finance major and earned recognition on the GW Athletic Department Academic Dean's List in each of his first five semesters on campus.

Zhang made the most of her final trip to the A-10 Championships, earning a total of seven medals. The senior from Maryland won a repeat gold in the 200-yard freestyle (1:48.84) and also claimed silver (200 IM, 2:00.83) and bronze (100 free, :50.07) individually.

She also won four relay medals, highlighted by gold in an A-10 record-time in the 200 free relay (1:31.53). She closed her career in Buff and Blue with a silver-medal effort in the 100-yard individual medley (:56.31) at the CSCAA National Invitational Championship.

A member of GW's Leadership Academy, Zhang holds a 3.50 cumulative GPA as she closes in on graduation with a degree in International Affairs.

Simon earns the second All-Academic honor of her career after scoring on the 1-meter board at the conference championships. It was the senior from Pennsylvania's third time in four years scoring in that event at the conference meet.

A Business Economics and Policy major, Simon holds a 3.98 cumulative GPA after earning a perfect 4.0 mark in the fall semester.

Those academic honors are added to GW's impressive haul at the A-10 Championships. Competitors who won gold made the All-Conference First Team with silver medalists on the Second Team.

The GW men piled up 14 golds and five silvers, earning All A-10 honors for Pone (First), Nachtwey (First), Moritz Fath (First), Tommi Wolst (First), Max Forstenhaeusler (First), Alexander Auster (First), Youssef Ragab (First), Dylan Arzoni (First), Patrick Lersch (First), Andrew Cho (Second) and Josh Legge (Second).

The women earned six golds and four silvers, garnering All-Conference recognition for Zhang (First), Meghan Burton (First), Rebecca Smolcic (First), Caroline Racke (First), Jackie Torrez (First), Gemma Atherley (First) and Andrea Ho (Second).

For the season, GW set 20 program records and climbed to new heights in the CollegeSwimming.com mid-major rankings. The men closed No. 17, while the women checked in at No. 36.