Swimming's Dave Linn voted Academic All-American

June 11, 2003
see link to complete teams here

St. Thomas swimming star Dave Linn (SO-Milwaukee, Wis./Marquette) is among 15 voted first-team Verizon Academic All-American for the 2003 Men's At-Large College Division.

The elite team consists of 38 student-athletes on three teams from NCAA Division II and III and NAIA institutions. The at-large category includes the men's sports of swimming & diving, ice hockey, tennis, golf, wrestling, skiing, volleyball, gymnastics, rifle and lacrosse.

Linn, a Biology major with a 4.00 grade-point average, is a two-time honorable mention All-American in the 200 backstroke, with NCAA finishes of 14th and 16th place the last two seasons. Linn also swept the 100 and 200 backstroke events at the 2002 and 2003 MIAC Championships.

Linn is a member of the UST Biology Club and has extensive volunteer community service experience with his team, including Toys for Tots, Christmas ornament sale, food-shelf drive and the Tommies' annual American Cancer Society Swim-a-thon.

Two other MIAC student-athletes were honored on the At-Large team -- Carleton senior swimmer Jason Brown (3.80, Computer Science) made first team, and St. John's goalie Rick Gregory (3.76, Political Science) made the second team.

Linn is the sixth Tommie to receive Verizon Academic All-America honors in 2002-03, joining football's Jake Barkley and Andrew Hilliard; women's soccer star Tessie Thompson; baseball's Tom Carroll; and softball's Shannon Moore. Hilliard is also on the national ballot in track and field/cross country, where he was a first-team honoree in 2002. That All-America team will be announced next week.

It's the second year in a row St. Thomas swimming has had an Academic All-American -- Kristen Murray received the Women's At-Large honor in 2001-02.