From University of Rochester Athletics
When you are an All-American athlete and a superior student, hard work is just another part of your success.
Two recent graduates of the University of Rochester – Lauren Bailey of the women's swimming and diving team and Emily Widra (pronounced WEED-rah) of the women's rowing team – have been justly rewarded for their academic achievement and their athletic accomplishments. They were elected to the Capital One Academic All-America Division III At-Large Team. Voting is conducted by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America.
CoSIDA members elected Bailey as a First Team Academic All-American and Widra as a Third Team Academic All-American. Rochester has accumulated 90 Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA in 40 years. The At-Large team encompasses a myriad of sports that do not have their own specific team (swimming, lacrosse, field hockey, ice hockey, fencing, tennis, and golf to name several).
Bailey is the third Rochester women's swimmer to earn Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA. Irene "Patty" Rupp was honored from 1985 to 1987. Colette Cove was honored in 2000. Last year, Bailey was elected to the Capital One Academic All-America At-Large Second Team. She is a resident of Ossining, NY and an alumnus of Ossining High School.
She was a four-year letterwinner for the women's swimming and diving team. In the past two seasons, she earned All-America honors in six events at the NCAA Championships, four as a junior and two as a senior.
She holds nine Rochester women's swimming records – four individually and five on a relay. She is listed among the Top 10 times in 11 swimming events. On April 30, 2015 Bailey was named a co-winner of the University's Merle Spurrier Award, symbolic of the top female student-athlete in the senior class. Rochester's women have won six consecutive Liberty League team championships in swimming. Bailey was named the Liberty League Swimmer of the Year from her sophomore through her senior year.
In addition to her Phi Beta Kappa honor, Bailey is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. She is a member of the Chi Omega sorority and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Bailey has been a member of the All-Academic team of both the University Athletic Association and the Liberty League for each of the past three years. She won the Garnish Scholar Award as a senior, was named to the Provost's Circle (top juniors) last year, and received the Iota Book Award from the University's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in her sophomore year. She graduated on May 17 with a 3.89 cumulative GPA on a 4.00 scale in chemical engineering with a minor in mathematics. She has been a teaching assistant for economics and at home, she is a volunteer with the Ossining Food Pantry.
Widra is the first Rochester women's rower to earn Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA. She is a resident of Washington, D.C. and an alumna of Georgetown Day School. She graduated from Rochester on May 17 with a cumulative GPA of 3.89 in a triple major - English literature, anthropology, and psychology. She was a four-year letterwinner for the women's rowing team. She was named as an All-American by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association of America last season. She has been named to the CRCA All-Academic Team for two years and to the Liberty League All-Academic team for two years. She rows in the #5 position, considered the 'power' seat for an eight-person shell. She holds the best 2K test time for the team (how fast she rows 2000 meters). She was the team captain in 2015. In 2014, she was named to the All-Liberty League team.
In addition to her Phi Beta Kappa honor, Widra received one of the University's Student Life Awards in 2015. She was a member of the Provost's Circle in her junior year. She was a member of the Executive Board of the Undergraduate English Council, serving as the secretary of that organization. She has been a teaching assistant for anthropology. She will pursue a graduate degree in social work. In the past, she has been a volunteer at the Martha's Vineyard Animal Shelter.
Notes: Bailey is the 25th Rochester student-athlete to earn First Team Academic All-America honors… A total of 18 UR student-athletes have earned multiple Academic All-America honors…. Five students have been named Academic All-Americans this year – Alex Swanger and Griffin Drake of men's soccer and Matthew Mender of football, all in the fall.