March 4, 2008

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Ohio swimming and diving team had four student-athletes selected to the 2008 Academic All-MAC Women's Swimming and Diving Team, as voted on by the leagues faculty athletic representatives. Senior Michaela Hahn-Lawson was selected for the second consecutive year, and was joined by fellow senior Lindsey DeStefano and sophomores Chelsey Bower and Leah Giancarli.

Hahn-Lawson had an outstanding final season for the Bobcats and was named to the All-MAC Second Team for her performance at the 2008 MAC Championships. The Painesville, Ohio native totaled five top-5 finishes at the championships. She placed fifth in the 200-yard IM (2:04.83), fifth in the 400-yard IM (4:26.64) and fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:20.39). Hahn-Lawson was also a part of Ohio's third-place 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay teams. She is the President of Ohio's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has a 3.29 cumulative GPA as a political science and pre-law major.

DeStefano has had a strong senior season this year for the Bobcats. This season she has won the 50-yard freestyle three times, placing first against Buffalo (24.58), Akron (24.63) and Marshall (24.89). At the 2008 MAC Championships she placed 12^th in the 50 free (23.96), 10th in the 100 fly (56.98) and 14^th in the 100 free (51.91). The Wildwood, Mo. native also swam the third leg of Ohio's third-place 200-yard freestyle relay team (1:34.18) and was the second leg of the Bobcats' second-place 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:25.14) at the MAC Championships. DeStefano currently holds a 3.54 GPA as an early childhood education major.

Bower has been Ohio's top sprinter swimmer this season. At the 2008 MAC Championships Bower placed in the top 10 in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free events. In the 50 free she finished sixth with a time of 23.76 in the finals, after setting a new personal best in the preliminaries with a mark of 23.67. The Bethel Park, Pa., native also placed ninth in the 100 free (51.36) and 10^th in the 200 free (1:52.12). Bower was named MAC Women's Swimmer of the Week for her outstanding performance the week of Jan. 29. Bower is a finance major and currently maintains a 3.77 cumulative GPA and is a member of the Dean's List.

Giancarli was named All-MAC Second Team at the 2008 MAC Championships. At the championships Giancarli placed second in the 200-yard butterfly with an NCAA "B" cut time of 2:00.62, placed seventh in the 1650-yard freestyle (17:19.46) and took ninth in the 400-yard IM (4:30.42). Heading into this year's MAC Championships, Giancarli recorded a time of 2:04.53 in the 200-yard butterfly, the second-fastest in the MAC this season, finished the 400-yard individual medley in a time of 4:35.52, the 13^th-fastest in the conference this year and posted a time of 58.25 in the 100-yard butterfly, the 16^th-fastest in the MAC. The Akron native holds a 3.26 cumulative GPA as a communications major.

Eastern Michigan led the way with six selections while the MAC Champion Bobcats were second with four honorees on the 2008 academic team.

A total of 21 student-athletes were named to the team. The number of honorees on the Academic All-MAC Team are the number that is set for the specific sport or 33 percent of the number of nominees, whichever is greater.

2008 Academic All-MAC Women's Swimming and Diving Team

Name                                       School/Year/GPA/Major

Katie Carter#                            Akron/Jr./3.70/Graphic Design

Stephanie Zielinski                     Akron/So./3.56/Nursing

Michelle Huang#                         Ball State/Sr./3.62/Chemistry/Premed

Michael Carriaga                        Bowling Green/Sr./3.35/Psychology

Meili Carpenter                          Buffalo/So./3.83/Psychology

Hannah Burandt#                       Eastern Michigan/Jr./3.88/Math Secondary Ed.

Ashley Durand                           Eastern Michigan/Jr./3.65/Biology

Leeza Moser                              Eastern Michigan/So./3.70/Communications

Madeleine Pilchard#                   Eastern Michigan/Sr./3.91/Accounting

Becky Renkola#                         Eastern Michigan/Sr./3.64/Political Science

Alissa Ricard                              Eastern Michigan/Jr./3.54/Exercise Science

Karen Frazier                             Miami/So./3.36/Chemical Engineering

Melissa Roemmele#                   Miami/Jr./3.94/Linguistics and Psychology  

Allison Stevens#                        Miami/Jr./3.75/Journalism and Marketing

Chelsey Bower                        Ohio/So./3.77/Finance

Lindsey DeStefano                  Ohio/Sr./3.54/Early Childhood Education

Leah Giancarli                         Ohio/So./3.26/Communications

Michaela Hahn-Lawson#         Ohio/Sr./3.29/Political Science/Pre law

Jennifer Parker                          Toledo/Sr./3.81/Speech Pathology

Jill Reighard                               Toledo/Sr./3.59/Environmental Science

Samantha Telljohann                  Toledo/Sr./3.91/Mathematics

# 2007 Academic All-MAC selections