Youngstown State junior swimmer Seth Thomas was one of four student-athletes to be named as an NCAA Accelerating Academic Success Program honoree. Each recipient received recognition this week at the NCAA Career in Sports Forum at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis.

Each student-athlete received the AASP Student-Athlete Career Development Award, which provides student-athletes who are pursuing careers in intercollegiate athletics with direct access to select NCAA student-athlete professional development programming this year.

Thomas met the requirements for the award, which are:

• attending an AASP-eligible school
• being a sophomore or higher
• having a cumulative GPA of 2.8 or higher
• being eligible for athletics competition
• being eligible to attend two NCAA professional development events — the Career in Sports Forum and the annual AASP Conference.

The other three student-athletes selected for the prestigious AASP award are Nour Gueblaoui, a women's tennis player from Western Illinois, Brynna Mardis, a women's golfer from Cleveland State, and Alexa Martinos, a women's soccer player from the University of South Carolina Upstate.

AASP was established in 2012 by the NCAA Board of Governors (formerly the NCAA Executive Committee). Through the program, the NCAA has awarded more than $1 million annually to schools with limited financial resources in an effort to help them meet NCAA academic standards. The grant dollars assist the Division I schools as they develop programs and systems to increase graduation rates and to ensure student-athletes' academic success. 

Thomas, an exercise science major, competed in seven meets during his junior season at Youngstown State. He garnered three top-five finishes at the Miami (OH) Classic on Feb. 7-8, highlighted by a 400-free relay victory, as his squad collectively swam a time of 48.38. Individually, he placed third in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:11.41, while also finishing fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke, clocking a time of 57.97. Thomas also captured two top ten finishes during a dual vs. Oakland on Oct. 4-5, placing eighth in both the 50-yard breaststroke (27.22) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.05). Other notable races for Thomas during the season include a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke during a dual vs. Denison on Jan.18, as well as seventh-place finishes in the event during duals against Cleveland State (Nov.2) and St. Bonaventure (Sept. 27).