March 29, 2002
TEMPE, Ariz. - Arizona State's men's swimming and diving team saw two of its athletes pick up first-team honors while four received second-team nods when the Pac-10 Conference named its All-Academic men's swimming and diving teams, Friday. The last time the ASU men earned six combined first and second team Pac-10 All-Academic spots was 1994.
Sophomore diver Gordon Blukis and senior swimmer Bo West earned first-team honors. Blukis (Cuptertino, Calif.) was ASU's leader in the diving events for most of the 2001-02 season, picking up nine dual meet victories including sweeps of the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events vs. Wisconsin, USC and Stanford. Majoring in pre-business, he has a GPA of 3.57. West (Esbjerg, Denmark), who earned first-team academic honors for the second straight season is set to graduate with a 3.39 GPA while majoring in business economics and finance. He is currently competing at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga., and is coming off a 15th-place finish in the 200y freestyle at the Pac-10 Championships.
Second-team honors went to junior Christian Harcsas, sophomore Ahmed Hussein, senior Gavin Meadows and junior Ace Tate. All but the latter are currently competing at the NCAA Championships.
Harcsas (Penzberg, Germany), is a business management major with a 3.06 GPA. He entered the day ranked second in school history in the 200y backstroke (1:43.96), fifth in the 100y back (48.77) and eighth in the 200y individual medley (1:49.70).
A fellow backstroker, Hussein is No. 2 in ASU history in the 100y back (48.03) and No. 3 in the 200y back (1:44.45). The Fullerton, Calif., native has a 3.19 GPA in computer engineering.
Meadows (Leeds, England) is contending for his second straight All-American season at NCAAs and is ranked seventh in program history in the 200y (1:36.31) and 500y free (4:21.28). A pre-business major, he has a 3.11 GPA.
Tate (Gaithersburg, Md.), who is majoring in justice studies and sociology carries a 3.38 GPA. At the Pac-10 Championships he placed 16th in the 200y butterfly, and 20th in the 100y fly and 100y back.