2025-26 Academic All-America® Women’s Swimming & Diving groups introduced for all NCAA and NAIA divisions

Curzan, Mears-Bentley, Naveen and Hahn spotlight 2025-26 Academic All-America® Women’s Swimming & Diving groups

Four gifted student-athletes lead 2025-26 Women’s Swimming & Diving Academic All-America® groups as Team Members of the Year

Women’s Swimming & Diving Release (NCAA, NAIA Divisions): PDF  |  doc

 

GREENWOOD, Indiana – Four standouts within the pool and within the classroom – Claire Curzan of University of Viriginia, Emily Mears-Bentley of University of Findlay, MIT’s Annika Naveen, and SCAD Savannah’s Nikki Hahn – spotlight the 2025-26 Academic All- America® ladies’s swimming & diving groups chosen by College Sports Communicators.

 

Curzan (Division I), Mears-Bentley (Division II), Naveen (Division III) and Hahn (NAIA) have every been named the Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year for his or her respective divisions. Hahn earned first crew Academic All-America® honors for the third straight yr and Curzan earned first crew honors for the second consecutive yr. Mears-Bentley and Naveen every garnered first crew Academic All-America® honors for the primary time, with every being named to an Academic All-America® crew for the third time of their careers.

 

NCAA Division I

Claire Curzan is a junior Applied Statistics main with a 3.87 GPA. She received her third consecutive NCAA title within the 200-yard backstroke (the primary whereas swimming for Stanford) and back-to-back titles within the 100-yard backstroke. For the second yr in a row, she swam on the NCAA champion relays within the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays, and the 200- and 400-yard medley relays in serving to the Cavaliers to their sixth consecutive nationwide championship.

 

She is a 21-time All-American with 5 particular person and eight relay NCAA titles in her first three seasons. Curzan has captured 18 convention championships and was named ACC Championship Most Valuable Women’s Swimmer of the Meet this previous season after successful a pair of particular person races and swimming on three champion relays.

 

Curzan received the 200-meter backstroke on the 2025 Toyota US National Championships from lane one after inserting seventh within the preliminaries. The victory certified her for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, the place she earned a bronze medal within the occasion and swam as a part of the gold medalist 400-meter relay. She earned a silver medal on the 400-meter medley relay crew on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

 

Seven members of the Academic All-America® Division I ladies’s swimming & diving groups boast an ideal 4.0 GPA of their undergraduate work or graduate college. The 9 members of the primary crew have a median GPA of three.91.

 

In addition to Curzan, seven different student-athletes are repeat choices on the Academic All-America® Division I ladies’s crew – Lucy Bell, Caroline Bricker, and Torri Huske (Stanford University), Emily Jones (University of Alabama), Gena Jorgenson (University of Nebraska), Ela Freiman (San Jose State), and Emily Lundgren (Washington State University).

 

(1) – 1st crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(2) – 2nd crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(3) – third crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(4) – third crew Academic All-America® in 2023-24

NCAA Division II

Emily Mears-Bentley, a senior with a 3.90 G.P.A. in Psychology, was named the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America Women’s Swimmer of the Year. She was named a second crew Academic All-America® honoree in 2024-25 and a third-team choice in 2023-24.

 

She turned the primary ladies’s swimmer in Findlay historical past to seize an NCAA title and simply the fourth swimmer in both the boys’s or ladies’s program to perform the feat when she received the 200-yard butterfly at this yr’s NCAA championship. She earned seven first crew All-America honors, 4 in particular person occasions and three in relays, to steer Findlay to a program-best seventh place end.

 

Mears-Bentley completed her profession with 24 All-America honors, 17 of which have been on the primary crew. She was chosen as Great Midwest/Mountain East Conference Championship Women’s Swimmer of the Meet all 4 years. She received 26 convention titles.

 

Five of the 24 members of the Academic All-America® Division II ladies’s swimming & diving groups boast an ideal 4.0 GPA of their undergraduate work or graduate college. The eight members of the primary crew have a median GPA of three.86.

 

In addition to Mears-Bentley, there are seven repeat choices on the Academic All-America® Division II ladies’s swimming & diving groups – Kenya Meyer and Ada Qunell (Colorado Mesa University), Marit Reckmann and Fiona Byrne (Catawba College), Celina Schmidt (University of Indianapolis), Elly Bellmore (Wayne State University), and Joslyn Jurski (Pennsylvania Western University, Clarion). Qunell and Schmidt joined Mears-Bentley as three-time Academic All-America® honorees, whereas Schmidt and Reckmann garnered first crew accolades for the second consecutive yr.

 

The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II nationwide governance construction to help the College Sports Communicators with dealing with the awards achievement points for the 2025-26 Division II Academic All-America® program.

 

(1) – 1st crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(2) – 2nd crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(3) – third crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(4) – 2nd crew Academic All-America® in 2023-24
(5) – third crew Academic All-America® in 2023-24
 

NCAA Division III

A Bioengineering main with a 4.00 GPA, Annika Naveen earned her third Academic All-America® honor being named to the primary crew after receiving second-team recognition the previous two years. She earned the NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete Award on the 2026 NCAA Division III Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship.

 

Naveen completed her profession with 12 All-America honors, together with three NCAA champion relays. She swam on two successful 200-yard medley relays and one 200-yard freestyle relay. She received 11 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference titles in her profession in serving to the Engineers run their convention championship win streak to 16 years.

 

She repeated her convention meet victory within the 50-yard freestyle this yr and captured the 100-yard freestyle in her profession to mix with being part of eight relay championship squads.

 

Naveen was considered one of three members of the Academic All-America® Division III ladies’s swimming & diving groups boast an ideal 4.0 GPA of their undergraduate work or graduate college. The eight members of the primary crew have a median GPA of three.88.

 

Including Naveen, 10 student-athletes are repeat choices on the Academic All-America® Division III ladies’s swimming & diving groups –Fiora Beretahani and Sydney Smith (MIT), Claire Kozma (Case Western Reserve University), Nicole Ranille and Kaley McIntyre (New York University), Drue Thielking and Emily Harris (Denison University), Tess Boyer (Wheaton College, IL), and Francesca Coppo (Pomona-Pitzer Colleges). Kozma and McIntyre joined Naveen as a three-time Academic All-America® choice. Beretahani and McIntyre are two-time first crew Academic All-America® honorees.

 

The Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III nationwide governance construction to help the College Sports Communicators with dealing with the awards achievement points for the 2025-26 Division III Academic All-America® program.

 

(1) – 1st crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(2) – 2nd crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(3) – third crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(4) – 1st crew Academic All-America® in 2023-24
(5) – 2nd crew Academic All-America® in 2023-24
(6) – third crew Academic All-America® in 2023-24
 

NAIA

Nikki Hahn, a senior User Experience Design main with a 4.0 GPA, earned first crew Academic All-America® accolades for the third consecutive yr. She received this yr’s NAIA titles within the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes in serving to lead SCAD Savannah to a runner-up end.

 

She earned 12 All-America honors, together with 5 within the 2026 NAIA Championship. In addition to her pair of nationwide titles, she swam on the runner-up 200- and 400-yard medley relays and earned All-America honors within the 200-yard particular person medley. Hahn’s finishes within the three particular person occasions gave her two All-America profession honors in every occasion.

 

Hahn swept the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke occasions on the 2026 Sun Conference Championships and completed with 4 all-conference honors for the second yr in a row. Her profession eight all-conference awards included two every within the breaststroke occasions.

 

Hahn was considered one of three members of the Academic All-America® NAIA ladies’s swimming & diving groups boast an ideal 4.00 GPA. The 9 members of the primary crew have a median GPA of three.87. Riley Renaud (Milligan University) and Sarah Zoellner (University of the Cumberlands) joined Hahn in repeating as first crew Academic All-America® honorees.

 

The NAIA Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NAIA nationwide governance construction to help the College Sports Communicators with dealing with the awards achievement points for the 2025-26 NAIA Academic All-America® program.

 

(1) – 1st crew Academic All-America® in 2024-25
(2) – 1st crew Academic All-America® in 2023-24
 

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jeff Schwartz, Retired, North Dakota State University | Academic All-America® Co-Director for Publicity
[email protected] | (701) 793-0538
 
Timothy Farrell, University Athletic Association | Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity
[email protected] | (508) 423-3180