COLLEGE FOOTBALL UA’s Swanson on Rimington watch list
Arkansas center Travis Swanson was named to the Rimington Trophy spring watch list Tuesday for the third consecutive season.
The senior from Kingwood, Texas, has started all 38 games of his college career and served as a team captain in 2012. Swanson, 6-5, 305 pounds, is one of 44 players on the watch list for the Rimington, which is named after the former Nebraska great Dave Rimington and is awarded each year to the nation’s top center.
ASU’s Aplin earns SBC honor
Former Arkansas State quarterback Ryan Aplin was named the Sun Belt Conference’s 2012-2013 Male Student-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.
Aplin, a two-time Sun Belt Conference football player of the year, led Arkansas State to a 10-3 record, its second consecutive Sun Belt Conference championship and a 17-13 victory over No. 25 Kent State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl during his senior season.
Aplin earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science in December with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.364.
GOLF Cook makes all-district team
Arkansas’ Austin Cook was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America to the Capital One Academic All-District VI team. He and other first-team members from the eight districts will now vie for academic All-America honors.
Cook, who finished as a runner-up in the NCAA Fayetteville Regional last week, carries a 3.83 grade-point average in biology. The senior from Jonesboro, a repeat selection to the team, is a two-time SEC scholar-athlete of the year. Cook’s career stroke average of 73.39 ranks 11th in school history.
UCA’s Angles named SLC’s top student-athlete
Central Arkansas’ Pep Angles has been named the Southland Conference men’s golf Student-Athlete of the Year.
Angles, a sophomore from Barcelona, Spain, also was named the conference’s men’s golfer of the year last week. The two awards were the first for a UCA men’s golfer since the Bears joined the league in 2006.
Angles led the conference in stroke average this season at 72.6 and finished second at the SLC championship.
ATHLETICS Two UALR athletes honored
UALR’s Marissa De La Paz has been named the Sun Belt Conference female postgraduate scholar-athlete of the year and Mackenzie Bloom has been named to the SBC leadership team.
De La Paz will receive $4,500 to use toward their education. De La Paz, who recently graduated as a double major in chemistry and biology, will pursue a master’s degree in gerontology at UALR.
A four-year member of the UALR cross country and track and field teams, De La Paz will with a 3.77 cumulative GPA, in addition to numerous academic honors and accolades.
Bloom, of Bentonville, is one of nine student-athletes named to the conference’s leadership team, which was designed to recognize individuals who exemplify the highest qualities of being a true student-athlete. She recently graduated as a double major in history and English literature.
She has competed for the cross country and track and field teams since 2009.
Sports, Pages 23 on 05/22/2013