ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's swimming program has again earned academic honors from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America as the Miners were one of 37 men's teams in NCAA Division II to receive the Scholar All-America award for the 2016 spring semester.

In addition to that honor, four individual members of the Miners also landed individual honors as members of the CSCAA's Scholar All-America team, which is awarded to individuals who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher and made at least a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships.

Keith Sponsler (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East), who was recently named as CoSIDA's Academic All-America of the Year and Miguel Chavez (Chihuahua, Mexico/Colegio de Bachilleres), another member of the Academic All-America squad, were honored along with Kevin McPherson (Oakdale, Minn./Tartan) and Stuart Mossop (Houston, Texas/James E. Taylor).

Sponsler, who earned his third Academic All-America award along with the team's top honor for the 2015-16 season, won five Great Lakes Valley Conference championships, including his 50-yard freestyle swim in 20.04 seconds that set a league record and a time of 1:36.54 in the 200-yard freestyle that was both a GLVC and pool record at the Crawfordsville Aquatic Center. He also recorded first place finishes in the 100-freestyle, 400-freestyle relay and 800-yard freestyle relay.

Sponsler, who graduated from Missouri S&T in May with a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering, was part of the 200-free relay team also established new pool and league records in the preliminaries of 1:19.92 and finished second in the finals, while the 400-yard freestyle relay team he was a part of also placed second.  As a team, the Miners finished second at the GLVC Championships for the second year in succession. 

At the NCAA Division II Championships, Sponsler earned All-America honors by placing seventh in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle and as part of all three freestyle relays. This was the fourth year in a row that Sponsler earned All-America honors, as he won four awards in his freshman season, three as a sophomore and five in each of the last two for a total of 17 in his Miner career.

In addition, Sponsler was an All-GLVC honoree in each of the last three seasons – the GLVC began sponsoring swimming as a conference sport in 2014 – and earned the league's "Swimmer of the Year" honors in 2015.  It is the fourth time Sponsler has earned a spot on the CSCAA's Scholar All-America team.

Chavez, a mechanical engineering major at Missouri S&T and third-team selection to this year's Academic All-America squad, finished seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke at the NCAA meet and also won GLVC championships in the 100- and 200-breaststroke at the conference meet in February.   It is the third time Chavez has been honored by the CSCAA.

A junior at Missouri S&T, Chavez had a fifth place showing in the 200-breaststroke in the 2015 national meet after winning the event at the GLVC Championships a month earlier.  Last summer, he finished second in the consolation final of the 200-meter breaststroke at the Pan American Games in Toronto while representing his home country of Mexico.

Following the 2015-16 season, Chavez also placed fourth in the 200-meter breaststroke at the Arena Pro Swim Series in Mesa, Ariz.

McPherson, who is majoring in computer engineering at S&T, competed at the NCAA Division II Championships as a freshman and earned All-America honors as he was on the 800-yard freestyle relay team that finished fifth.  He also competed in the 200-, 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle at this season's national meet.

Mossop reached an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time in the 400-yard individual medley during the 2015-16 season, where he recorded the Miners' best time of the season of 4:02.31 at the GLVC Championships.  Mossop is majoring in chemical engineering at Missouri S&T.

It is the first CSCAA academic honor for both McPherson and Mossop.

Florida Southern finished with the highest grade point average among the 37 NCAA Division II schools at 3.55 for the past semester.  The team awards are given to all programs with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better for the semester.

Missouri S&T, who also earned a team academic honor from the CSCAA for the 2015 fall semester, finished second at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships in 2016 and took 13^th place at the NCAA Division II Championships.