Hawley Named to Academic All-America First Team
Caps Outstanding Athletic and Scholastic Career for Standout Swimmer

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. --- With Warrior and Middle Atlantic Conference swimming records under his belt, we know he performs well in the pool.  As class valedictorian and numerous academic award winner, we all know he gets the job done in the classroom.  But his recognition stretches beyond the Lycoming College borders and onto the national scene.

Recently graduated Lycoming men’s swimmer Steve Hawley (New Cumberland, Pa./Trinity) capped an outstanding collegiate academic and athletic career with a selection to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team.  In a national voting process, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) voted Hawley as one of 48 student athletes on the men’s at-large ballot.  The first team consisted of only 15 total student athletes.

The at-large ballot from which Hawley was tabbed does not only cover swimming, which makes his selection that much more impressive.  Most of the smaller sports sponsored at colleges and universities are also considered at large sports.  The list includes wrestling, tennis, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse and several other smaller disciplines.

Joining Hawley in the Academic All-America at-large selection is Derek Crane (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown).  Crane, a recently graduated wrestler, was voted to the third team.

The Academic All-America program honors more than 800 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA (the College Sports Information Directors of America), a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

Class of 2006 Valedictorian headlines the long list of awards Hawley earned while wearing blue and gold.  The MAC recognized his academic and athletic prowess by voting him as the 2006 MAC Scholar-Athlete for men’s swimming, the highest award presented by the conference.  He also earned a 2005 CSCAA Academic Award (College Swimming Coaches Association of America).

Hawley is a five-time individual event MAC champion, having captured the 50-yard freestyle title each of the last three seasons and the 100-yard backstroke title in 2003-04 and 2004-05.  His time of 21.17 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle at the 2004-05 MAC Championships is currently the MAC meet record.  Hawley holds five Lycoming College school records including the 100-yard backstroke (52.76 seconds) and four other marks as a member of the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard medley relay, and the 400-yard freestyle relay teams.  He also previously held the school 50-yard freestyle record.  Hawley is a two-time NCAA National Qualifier and three time team MVP.

The Trinity H.S. graduate was been a mainstay on the Lycoming College Dean’s List, putting his name amongst the College’s best each semester he called Williamsport home.  He is a member of the Beta Beta Beta Biology Honor Society, the Phi Kappa Phi Academic Honor Society, and the Phi Sigma Iota International Foreign Language Honor Society.  A member of the National Dean’s List, Hawley was honored by Phi Kappa Phi for achieving a 4.0 grade point average in at least one semester.  He was recognized by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America with an Academic All-American award in 2005, and has also been a member of the MASCAC Honor Roll for the past three years.

Hawley was one of 38 students nation-wide, and the only recipient from a Pennsylvania College or University, to win a $1,000 Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society study abroad grant.  He spent four weeks in Ecuador last summer, taking Spanish language classes and doing volunteer work at a hospital in the city of Cuenca.

He took advantage of several internship opportunities including the Temple University Podiatry Internship Program and the Ohio College Podiatric Medicine Intern program, as well as shadowing experience at five other Podiatry offices.  He has accepted a Presidential Scholarship from the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine to continue his education.  The Presidential Scholarship is the highest award the school offers.

In April 2005, Hawley was honored with the IRUSKA Honor Society Award given for outstanding contributions to campus life in one or more student activities.  Hawley’s volunteer experiences include time spent at a Muscular Dystrophy Support Group, as a Hand-In-Hand Booth Coordinator for the Special Olympics, and over 150 hours of service at Harrisburg Hospital.  Each of the past three summers, he has spent 20 hours per month volunteering for a local hometown doctor of podiatric medicine.

Hawley is a two-time nominee for the Lycoming Leader of Campus Award.  He has been a captain for the swimming team, as well as President of the Pre-Health Society (2002-2006), Secretary of Tri-Beta (2005-2006), a student-leader at Freshman Orientation (2003-2005), and the Leader of College Ushers at the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport (2002-2005).

Hawley was a mentor in the Lycoming Peer Athlete Leaders program (PAL).  The purpose of the program is to help new freshman student-athletes, and those others pointed out by coaches, to cope with the academic and social rigors that accompany the beginning of college life.  Hawley was selected as a mentor for not only meeting the academic criteria, but for his commitment to positive citizenship towards the Lycoming College community.

To view the complete Academic All-America lists, visit the following link:
http://www.cosida.com/allamerica/default.asp