Carolyn Draayer, Katie Olson, And Jenny Strom Earn CoSIDA Academic All-District Honors

St. Peter, Minn. – Three Gustavus Adolphus College student-athletes have been recognized on the 2014-15 Capital One Academic All-District Women’s At-Large Team for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. As selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, women’s hockey player Carolyn Draayer (Sr., Deephaven, Minn.), and women’s swimmers Katie Olson (Sr., North Oaks, Minn.) and Jenny Strom (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) were honored on the Academic All-District Women’s At-Large Team for District Six.

A communications studies major with a 3.97 cumulative grade point average, Carolyn Draayer earns a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for the second straight season. Draayer – a third team member of the CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large Team a year ago – was recently one of 29 female winter sports student-athletes from across Divisions I, II, and III to earn a prestigious postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA. She played in all 26 games and captained the Golden Gusties to an MIAC Championship; her third as a member of the team. She led the team in goals (12), ranked second in points (20), scored a team-best four game-winning goals and five power play goals. Draayer recorded five multiple-point games and scored two goals twice. In the MIAC’s postseason awards, Carolyn earned All-Conference honors for the second straight season and was awarded the Sheila Brown Award.

Katie Olson and Jenny Strom are both making their first appearances on the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team following what was another banner year for the Gustavus women’s swimming and diving team. Four-year staples of Jon Carlson’s conference and national lineup, Olson and Strom played integral roles in Gustavus’s sixth consecutive MIAC Championship and tenth place finish at the NCAA Championships. Of the four times the Gustavus women’s swimming and diving program has finished inside the top ten at the NCAA Championships, the senior duo played key roles in three of them.

Olson, a biology and psychology double major with a 3.75 GPA, won four gold medals and earned a total of six All-Conference awards at the MIAC Championships. She repeated as conference champion in the 100 freestyle, and helped the 200-free relay, 400-free relay, and 400-medley relay teams take the top spot on the podium. Olson went on to solidify her legacy as the second-most decorated swimmer in program history with All-American swims in the 200-medley relay (7th) and 200-free relay (8th) at the NCAA Championships. She also earned Honorable Mention All-America status in the 100 free (13th), 400-medley relay (9th), 400-free relay (9th), and 800-free relay (16th).

A nursing major with a 3.55 GPA, Jenny Strom made the most of her final conference meet with what was the most dominating performance of her Gustavus career. Strom was named the MIAC Swimmer-of-the-Year after claiming five MIAC Championships (3 individual, 2 relay) and a total of six All-Conference accolades. She won the 100 breaststroke for the fourth straight season, won the 100 breaststroke for the third straight season in MIAC-record-breaking fashion, and won the 500 free title for the second year in a row. The Rochester product also helped the 800-free and 400-medley relay teams to a pair of golds. At the NCAA Championships in Shenadoah, Texas, Strom earned All-America status in the 200-medley relay, and Honorable Mention All-America marks in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, and 400-medley relay.

The three Gustie seniors are the fourth, fifth, and sixth CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees from Gustavus so far during the 2014-15 academic year. Draayer, Olson, and Strom follow behind men’s soccer players Braden Schmid (Sr., West Fargo, N.D.) and Ryan Tollefsrud (Sr., Spearfish, S.D.), and baseball player Dalton Mattson (So., Princeton, Minn.).

The Academic All-District teams include the student-athletes divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the fourth year of the expanded Academic All-America program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-America Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.

First-team Academic All-District honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.

CoSIDA Release