WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, March 18. TEXAS A&M senior Ella Doerge (pronounced DOOR-ghee) received the NCAA Elite 88 Academic Recognition Award on Thursday at the 2010 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships at Purdue University.
The ELITE 88, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 88 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 88 championships.
Doerge, from Clive, Iowa, has compiled a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average while pursuing her degree in genetics. Last fall, Doerge was a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Doerge was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District and All-America teams as a junior, and she has received special recognition on the Academic All-Big 12 Conference swim team for her perfect 4.0 grade point average the past three years.
A standout in the pool as well as the classroom, Doerge is competing in the first NCAA Championship of her career, and logged her first Big 12 Conference title with the Aggies' 400 free relay last month. Doerge ranks in Texas A&M's all-time top 10 lists in five different events. Last summer, she qualified for the U.S. World Championship Trials and swam a leg on Texas A&M's victorious 800-meter freestyle relay at the meet.
An Honors Programs University Scholar, Ella was also the Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Junior from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and she is an officer for WorldMed, a student organization that organizes international medical missions. This past summer, she conducted research in bovine genetics. Her long-term interests are to attend medical school and study prenatal genetics.
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