McLean County Times

Ethan Lowder, a senior from Illinois Wesleyan University's men's swimming and diving team, has been honored as a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America selection for the second time in his career. The CSC announced on April 23 that Lowder was named to the Second Team.

Lowder is one of only two members from the men's swimming and diving program to achieve Academic All-America status. He follows Chris Morton, who was recognized in 1993. Remarkably, Lowder is the first in the program's history to receive this distinction consecutively, having been named to the third team last year. This achievement raises Illinois Wesleyan University's total number of Academic All-America selections to 152. This academic year, Lowder joins Lauren Huber from women's basketball in receiving this honor.

In recent competitions, Lowder placed second in the 50-yard freestyle at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championship with a time of 20.95 seconds and secured third place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.54 seconds.

Additionally, as part of the 200-yard medley relay team, Lowder contributed to setting a new school record with a leadoff split time of 24.09 seconds in the 50-yard backstroke leg, leading to an overall finish time of 1:33.94.

Maintaining a perfect grade point average of 4.00 as a physics major, Lowder has also earned recognition as a three-time recipient of the CCIW Elite 26 award. This award honors student-athletes with the highest GPA competing at conference championships.