By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University swimmer Corinne Pierson (Jr., Port Townsend, WA/Port Townsend HS) has been named First Team CoSIDA NCAA Division III Academic All-District VIII on the Women's All-Large Team, as voted by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Pierson and other First Team Academic All-District selections are eligible to be chosen for the CoSIDA NCAA Division III Academic All-America Team, which will be announced on August 4.
A total of 10 student-athletes were named to the Academic All-District VIII Women's At-Large Team. Pierson was the only student-athlete chosen from the Northwest Conference.
CoSIDA District VIII includes colleges and universities in the western United States. Student-athletes nominated for the CoSIDA All-District At-Large Team were starters or key reserves with cumulative grade point averages of 3.3 or higher (4.0 scale). Each nominated player was at their current college or university for at least one academic year. The At-Large Team includes athletes in sports that don't have a separate Academic All-District team, so nominees were involved in a wide range of sports such as golf, tennis, and lacrosse, in addition to swimming.
Willamette played a limited swimming schedule in 2020-21 as the Bearcats participated in four matches under COVID-19 protocols. Willamette competed in 11 meets in 2019-20, including the NWC Championships.
First Team CoSIDA NCAA Division III Academic All-District VIII
Pierson, who competes in the backstroke and butterfly events, was selected Academic All-District VIII for the first time. She is majoring in History at Willamette. She began the spring semester with a 3.60 cumulative GPA.
At the NWC Championships in February of 2020, Pierson earned Second Team All-NWC honors by placing seventh in the 100-yard backstroke. She registered a personal-best time of 58.78 in the prelims. A year earlier, at the 2019 NWC Championships, she swam on the 200-yard medley relay team that set a school record at 1:49.24. She also swam on the 400-yard medley relay team that achieved a time of 4:02.23 at the 2020 NWC Meet to move into fourth place on WU's all-time list. She took 11th place in the 200-yard backstroke at the 2020 NWC Meet with a career-best time of 2:11.94.
"I'm very excited for Corinne's academic and athletic accomplishments to be recognized by her being selected to the At-Large Team," Willamette Head Swimming Coach Brent Summers said. "Corrine is an incredibly hard-working student-athlete who is fully committed to her studies and training. She has been able to successfully balance both and it shows by her consistent excellence in the classroom and in the pool semester after semester."
Prior to attending Willamette, Pierson was a team captain for two years and set three event records at Port Townsend High School in Washington. At Willamette, she has served as an Opening Days leader and has received College Honors.
