Georgia Tech’s Yuval Safra Earns Spot in European Swimming Championships

Georigia Tech junior swimmer Yuval Safra will represent his native country of Isreal in the 2014 European Swimming Championships to be held August 13-24 in Berlin, Germany.

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Safra will join Nico van Duijn, who is swimming for Switzerland in the Euro Championships. Safra will compete in the 10k and 25k events in Berlin.

Georgia Tech swimming coach, Courtney Shealy Hart, is ecstatic about seeing two of her swimmers not only represent their countries, but also the Georgia Tech Swimming program as well in the European Swimming Championships.

In a post from ramblinwreck.com, Coach Hart made that excitement known:

“We are very excited to have two athletes representing their countries and Georgia Tech in the European Championships this summer. They are both very dedicated and hard workers and its great they get to showcase that on an international level.”

-Courtney Shealy Hart

Safra exploded on to the Yellow Jackets’ swimming scene as Tech’s top distance swimmer and this past season in the ACC finished 12th in the mile swim (15;22.90), which was good for the NCAA “B” cut. He also finished 24th in the 500 freestyle (4:28.84).

In Other Swimming News:

The Yellow Jackets Men’s and Women’s swimming teams, as well as nine swimmers combined from the Men’s and Women’s swimming team, were honored by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America for their academic achievements for the Spring 2014 semester.

Andrew Kosic, Ricky Lehner, Nico van Duijn, and Mats Westergren were named Scholar All-American.

The swimmers that received Honorable Mentions were Omar Eteiba, Yuval Safra, Andrea Demick, Shannon Lembra, and Madison Young.

With four Yellow Jackets receiving top honors, Georgia Tech is tied for most Scholar All-Americans in the ACC and 10th nationally.

To be named to the Individual Scholar All-American Team the swimmer or diver must have earned a 3.5 GPA for the academic term that coincided with their respective diving or swimming championship.

The swimmer or diver also must have qualified for and competed in their respective championship.

To be given Honorable Mention the swimmer or diver must have earned a 3.5 GPA or higher for the semester.

Swimmers that are given Honorable Mention have a “B” time standard but did not qualify to compete in their respective national championship.

Divers that qualified for Honorable Mention competed in their respective championship qualifying meets, zones and preliminary rounds.

The Team All-American Award is presented to the college and university swimming and diving team that has achieved a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher for that semester.

The Yellow Jackets Men’s Swimming Team had an cumulative grade point average of 3.24 which was good for 21st nationally, while the ladies combined for a GPA of 3.25.