Diver Is Academic All-American

Salmon '06 Becomes Sixth Hamilton Athlete to Earn Honor

Mike Salmon '06

Hamilton College diver Mike Salmon '06 (Lowville, N.Y./Lowville Academy & Central School) was selected to the 2006 Academic All-America men's at-large team by the College Sports Information Directors of America on June 13.

Salmon was one of 15 student-athletes voted to the college division's second team. He is the sixth Hamilton athlete to receive academic All-America honors and the first since 1996. The academic All-America team is sponsored by ESPN The Magazine and has been in place since 1952. The college division includes NCAA Division II and III schools. The at-large program includes 12 sports.

Salmon, who made the academic all-District I men's at-large first team in May, has a 3.60 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.00 scale) and recently graduated with a degree in economics. He is a two-time member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) winter all-academic team.

Salmon capped off a brilliant college career with victories in the 1- and 3-meter springboard events at the 2006 NCAA Division III men's swimming and diving championships in March. Salmon is the first Hamilton diver to win two national titles. He is a seven-time All-America award winner, a three-time recipient of the NESCAC diver of the year award and has been named Liberty League diver of the meet twice.

Salmon holds the school record in both the 1- and 3-meter events. He broke his own 3-meter record with a score of 511.45 points to win the event at the NCAA Championships this year. His 1-meter score of 528.40 points also set a NESCAC record at the 2005 conference championships. As a senior, Salmon won all 16 events he competed in during the 2005-06 season. He appeared in the May 15, 2006, issue of Sports Illustrated on the "Faces in the Crowd" page.

On May 17, Salmon received the 2006 Jack B. Riffle Award as the College's most outstanding senior male athlete. Please click on the following link for the complete listings of academic All-America men's at-large teams: http://www.cosida.com/formpdfs/2006CoSIDAAAAMen_sAt-LargeTeam.pdf