May 22, 2003
Golfer Troy Matteson, the defending NCAA champion, and all-America swimmer Shilo Ayalon have been named to the Verizon Academic All-District III At-Large Team, announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Both are now eligible for the Verizon Academic All-America team, which will be announced June 10.
Matteson, a senior from Austin, Texas, with a 3.28 grade point average, earned his degree in Civil Engineering last month. Ayalon, a senior from Kfar Hanassi, Israel, graduated with highest honor and a 3.81 GPA in Electrical Engineering.
The 2002 NCAA individual champion, Matteson also won last weekend’s NCAA East Regional and leads the Yellow Jackets into the 2003 NCAA Championships, which are May 27-30 at Stillwater, Okla. He enters his final tournament with the second-lowest career stroke average in Georgia Tech history, behind only former teammate and NCAA record-holder Bryce Molder.
Ayalon is a three-time all-America in the 1,650 yard freestyle as well as a seven-time all-conference honoree. After setting an Atlantic Coast Conference record in the 1650 freestyle, he was named the Most Valuable Swimmer at the conference meet, and he was also tabbed to the ACC 50th Anniversary Team for Men’s Swimming & Diving. Ayalon earned postgraduate scholarship awards from the ACC and NCAA and plans to pursue a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at Tech.
Georgia Tech was the only school with more than one honoree on the Verizon Academic All-District III At-Large Team. District III is made up of all Division I schools in the states of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, while the At-Large team represents student-athletes in NCAA sports other than football, basketball, baseball, soccer and track/cross country.
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