Five Bruins Earn CSCAA All-America Honors
April 08, 2020 | Swimming & Diving
LOS ANGELES โ Five members of the UCLA swim & dive program were recognized as All-Americans by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), it was announced on Wednesday.
The Bruins' All-America recipients included freshman Hannah Butler, sophomore Claire Grover, senior Kenisha Liu, junior Ruby Neave, and senior Amy Okada. It was the first individual All-America honor for all five Bruins. Liu had previously picked up an All-America award as part of UCLA's 800 free relay team at 2018 NCAAs.
"Despite the cancellation of the NCAA Championships, Coach Wolfrum did a remarkable job this season," said CSCAA Executive Director Greg Earheart. "These five student-athletes had the rug pulled out from them this season, so we are excited to recognize them."
This is the third time in the last four seasons that UCLA has registered at least five All-Americans. Due to the cancellation of NCAAs, the CSCAA Board adjusted the selection criteria for its All-America honors โ meaning all NCAA qualifiers would earn recognition.
Neave earned two All-America awards to lead the Bruins, qualifying in both 1-meter and 3-meter diving. Butler joined Neave by earning a 1M honor, Grover was recognized in the 50 free, Liu in the 200 free, and Okada in the 200 fly.
"We are incredibly proud of our NCAA qualifiers," said UCLA head coach Jordan Wolfrum. "While this isn't who we expected to end the season for these women, we are proud to celebrate them in this way."
Neave had a breakout junior season for UCLA in 2019-20, establishing herself as one of the top divers in the Pac-12. The Melbourne, Australia native was crowned the 1-meter diving champion at the 2020 Pac-12 Championships, then went on to place second in 1M at the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships to punch her ticket to NCAAs. She secured double qualification the following day at Zones with a sixth-place finish in 3M. Her scores of 329.30 in 1M and 337.85 in 3M were both team-highs.ย
Butler became the first Bruin freshman to take home All-America honors since Eloise Belanger in 2016. She secured All-America honors after placing sixth in 1-meter at Zones with a score of 565.00. That figure included a season-best score of 285.95 in the preliminary round.
Making up half of UCLA's senior class on the current roster, Liu and Okada both capped off their Bruin careers by securing All-America honors. Liu was set to be the No. 18 seed in the 200 free after posting a season-best time of 1:44.37 at Pac-12s. Okada meanwhile was slated to be the No. 33 seed in the 200 fly โ her first career individual NCAA qualification โ after posting a lifetime best of 1:55.93 at Pac-12s.
Grover earned NCAA qualification in the 50 free for the second consecutive year after placing 22nd at 2019 NCAAs with a time of 22.25.
Stay tuned to @UCLASwimAndDive on Twitter for all team updates.
Players Mentioned
