Four Swarthmore Student-Athletes Named to Philadelphia Inquirer 2010 Spring Academic All-Area Teams

PHILADELPHIA - Swarthmore College student-athlete Rachel Wallwork '10 was named the 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Women's Tennis Performer of the Year for the second consecutive year, while colleagues Wiley Archibald '10 (baseball), Kevin Friedenberg '10 (men's lacrosse), and Stephen Youngblood '12 (men's tennis) were also selected as Academic All-Stars for their respective sports, the paper announced on Tuesday.

In order to be eligible for the All-Star teams, an athlete must be of sophomore athletic standing, have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or better, and be a starter or key reserve. Ballots for the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Star Teams, which sponsored 11 teams (baseball, golf men's lacrosse, men's rowing, men's track & field, men's tennis, softball, women's lacrosse, women's rowing, women's track & field, women's tennis ) this spring, were compiled and voted upon by the 28 Philadelphia-Area Sports Information Directors Association (Philly-SIDA).

Wallwork

Wallwork (Washington, D.C./Georgetown Day) becomes the first Swarthmore student-athlete to repeat as Academic All-Area Performer of the Year in his or her respective sport. She is the second Swarthmore student-athlete to be honored as Performer of the Year by the Inquirer during the 2009-10 year, following Kathryn Stockbower (women's basketball).

A senior psychology major who graduated from the College in May, Wallwork is a three-time All-Area selection and three-time Centennial Conference Performer of the Year honoree.

For the 2010 season, Wallwork was a perfect 5-0 in Conference play this season, part of her 25 consecutive Centennial Conference singles winning streak.  Playing at the No. 1 position for Swarthmore, Wallwork  finished the season 15-4 in singles play and 14-5 in doubles play.

This summer,  Wallwork received a pair of prestigious awards for her play on the court and her performance in the classroom. In May, Wallwork was awarded the ITA Atlantic South Region Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award for Division III women's tennis. In June, she became just the 12th Academic All-America selection from Swarthmore, earning a spot on the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America women's at-large second team.

Archibald

Archibald (Berkeley, Calif. - The College Preparatory School) played a crucial role in the resurgence of Swarthmore baseball, helping the Garnet reach the Centennial Conference for the first time in program history. For the 2010 season, Archibald finished second on the team in batting average (.371) and third in 0n-base percentage (.444) to earn Second Team All-Centennial Conference honors. Excelling on the field and in the classroom, Archibald was named to the CoSIDA ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District baseball second team as well as the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll.

Friedenberg

Friedenberg (Needham, Mass./Needham) capped a stellar Swarthmore career with a senior campaign that saw him earn First Team All-Centennial Conference and All-America Honorable Mention honors. A first-time Academic All-Area honoree, Friedenberg finished first in the Centennial Conference in save percentage (12.46) while finishing the season with a 9.43 goals-against average and .570 save percentage. He recorded a season-high 17 saves in a victory over Washington College - the Garnet's first over the Shoremen since 1953 - while holding opponents to under 10 goals in nine of Swat's 13 games.

Youngblood

Youngblood (Norcross, Ga./Lighthouse Christian Academy) is the lone Garnet underclassman to make an All-Area team after an impressive sophomore campaign that saw him earn First Team All-Centennial singles and Second Team All-Centennial doubles honors. The ace at the No. 1 position for much of the 2009-10 season for the Centennial runner-up Garnet, Youngblood finished with a 6-12 overall record and 3-6 record from No. 1 singles in the conference. Ranked No. 14 in the Atlantic South region, Youngblood also holds the recognition of  being one of just two men's tennis student-athletes on the All-Conference team as well as the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll.

For the 2009-10 season,  11 Swarthmore student-athletes were named to Academic All-Area teams: Wallwork '10 (women's tennis), Archibald '10 (baseball), Friedenberg '10 (men's lacrosse), Youngblood '12 (men's tennis), Kathryn Stockbower ‘11 (women’s basketball), Maithili Parikh ‘10 (badminton), Sterling Satterfield ‘11 (men’s swimming), David D’Annunzio ‘12 (men’s soccer), Gina Grubb ‘10 (field hockey), Julia Luongo ‘10 (women’s soccer) and Brett McLarney ‘12 (men’s soccer).

Comments are closed.