COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) on Thursday, July 3, announced the winners of its annual Brechler Awards, an honor Western Colorado's swimming & diving program earned for the fourth consecutive year and fifth time in program history.

The Brechler Awards — initiated with the 2012-13 academic year — are named in honor of Paul W. Brechler, a former RMAC commissioner (1976-90), and his wife Wanda Brechler, who were the first inductees into the RMAC Hall of Fame. Team grade point averages are submitted to the RMAC office by each institution's compliance administrator with the award given to the team with the highest academic year GPA in each of the RMAC's sport offerings.

Posting a cumulative team GPA of 3.601, the 2024-25 swim & dive program improved on last year's leading GPA (3.518) to stretch a string of Brechler honors that began with the 2021-22 award. The program earned its first Brechler in the 2014-15 academic year.

Also on Thursday, the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) released its list of CSCAA Scholar All-America teams, with Western among the 763 teams from 432 institutions from NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, the NAIA, and the junior college ranks to earn a spot on the list.

Scholar All-America teams are required to have posted a cumulative team GPA of 3.00 in the spring semester. Western registered a cumulative Spring 2025 GPA of 3.65 to earn its place on the Scholar All-America team list, repeating the achievement it earned with the Fall 2024 GPA of 3.56. Western led a trio of RMAC teams onto the CSCAA Division II Women's Scholar All-America teams list.

Mountaineer history in the Brechler Awards:

• 2012-13 – women's indoor track & field (3.47), outdoor track & field (3.53), women's volleyball (3.44)
• 2013-14 – wrestling (2.95)
• 2014-15 -- football (2.96), women's swimming & diving (3.56)
• 2020-21 – men's basketball (3.38), wrestling (3.14)
• 2021-22 – women's swimming & diving (3.621)
• 2022-23 – men's basketball (3.47), women's swimming & diving (3.56), wrestling (3.09)
• 2023-24 – men's basketball (3.727), women's cross country (3.681), women's soccer (3.685), women's swimming & diving (3.518)
• 2024-25: women's swimming & diving (3.601)