Chaplin Honored by CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine
Swarthmore, PA - Swarthmore College men's cross country and track & field standout Vernon Chaplin (Indian Springs, AL - Indian Springs) has been named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District II College Division Men's Track & Field/Cross Country first team, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on May 31.
The District II College Division consists of all NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA colleges and universities in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. To be nominated for the team, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore with a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average and a starter or significant reserve on his or her team.
Chaplin, a junior astrophysics major, ran cross country for the first time in 2005, putting together a strong collection of races; at the DeSales University Invitational on Oct.15 he finished 11th; the Blue Jay Invitational on Oct. 7, Chaplin finished third; and the Dickinson Invitational on Oct.1, where he finished tenth.
Chaplin helped lead the team to a fifth place finish at the Dickinson Long/Short Meet on Oct.1, a first place finish at the Blue Jay Invitational, and a third place finish at DeSales. He led Swarthmore to a third-place finish at the Centennial Conference Championships and seventh place at the NCAA Mid-East Regional in Carlisle, Pa. on Nov. 12.
Already an established star on the track, Chaplin solidified his status as one of the top runners in the Swarthmore history. He holds three school records - the indoor mile, the indoor 800 meters, and the indoor distance medley relay - and is an eight-time Centennial Conference Championship medalist (the most recent being a silver medal in 2006 on the 4 x 800 meter relay).
Chaplin was awarded the national Barry Goldwater Scholarship given in recognition of academic merit - from a field of more than 1,000 mathematics, science, and engineering students who were nominated by colleges and universities nationwide. He spent the summer of 2004 doing research with Dr. Perry A. Gerakines at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on interstellar dust clouds and their role in star formation.