Four members of the Case Western Reserve University men's swimming and diving team received Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Communicators, as announced by the organization on Tuesday.
Senior Griffin Gushman and juniors Mason Bencurik, John Drumm, and Emil LaSida each earned Academic All-District honors.
Student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically with a cumulative grade point average greater than 3.50 and must have competed in at least five competitions or finish in the top eight at a conference meet to be eligible for the award. Schools are limited to four selections per team. Drumm and LaSida were both selected by the CSC Academic All-America Committee to advance to the Academic All-America ballot, with three teams of Academic All-Americans released on Wednesday, April 23.
Gushman competed at his first career national championship meet this season, swimming for CWRU at the 2025 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in March. He helped the Spartans place 15th in the 800-yard freestyle relay to earn his first career All-America honor as a member of the Second Team. Gushman also placed 27th nationally in the 400 Free Relay and in the 200 Free Relay. At the 2025 University Athletic Association Championships in February, Gushman pushed the Spartans to a fourth-place finish in the 800 Free Relay and placed 23rd as an individual in the 200 Back. As a cognitive science major, Gushman has earned a 3.75 cumulative GPA. He received his first career Academic All-District honor.
Bencurik also made his national championship debut in 2025, earning an All-America Second Team selection with a 15th-place finish in the 800 Free. He placed 27th in the 200 and 400 Free Relays and secured a 43rd-place finish in the 200 Free at the national championships. At the conference championships, Bencurik secured four finishes in the top eight, placing fourth in the 800 Free Relay, fifth in the 400 Free Relay, and sixth in both the 200 Free Relay and 400 Medley Relay. As an individual, he scored points for CWRU with a 15th-place finish in the 100 Free and 16th-place finish in the 200 Free. Bencurik earned his second career Academic All-District selection after earning a 3.68 cumulative GPA as a biochemistry major.
Drumm was the lone Spartan swimmer to earn selection to the All-America First Team in 2025 after he placed eighth in the 200 Fly at the national championship. Overall, he secured three All-America honors, placing 15th in the 500 Free and 15th in the 800 Free Relay in March. He added a 38th-place national finish in the 200 Free and 27th-place finish in the 200 and 400 Free Relays. Drumm placed in the top eight in four events at the UAA Championships. As an individual, he placed fourth in the 200 Fly. He was also a member of the fourth-place 800 Free Relay, fifth-place 400 Free Relay, and sixth-place 400 Medley Relay, and added point-scoring finishes in the 500 Free (10th) and 100 Fly (21st). Drumm, who has four All-America honors in his career, earned his second career Academic All-District selection as a finance major with a cumulative 3.67 GPA.
LaSida set the school record in the 50 Free at the NCAA Championships, en route to placing 15th in the event to earn All-America Second Team honors. He recorded a time of 19.98 seconds in a swim-off, the first Spartan to swim the race in under 20 seconds in program history. At the national meet, LaSida placed 25th in the 100 Back, 27th in the 200 Free Relay, 27th in the 400 Free Relay, and 40th in the 100 Free. He secured three finishes in the top 16 as an individual at the conference championship, finishing sixth in the 50 Free, eighth in the 100 Free, and 13th in the 100 Back, while also helping Spartan relays earn four top six finishes. LaSida is receiving his second career Academic All-District honor after earning a 3.67 cumulative GPA as a computer engineering major.
The 2024-25 Academic All-District Men's Swimming and Diving Team, selected by CSC, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in the pool and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America program separately recognizes men's swimming and diving honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA.
The Division III CSC Academic All-America program is partially financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2024-25 Division III Academic All-America programs.
The CWRU men's swimming team placed 25th nationally out of 48 scoring schools at the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships in March. The 25th place finish is the best by the squad since 1999 when the team placed 23rd. Case Western Reserve totaled 31.0 points across the four days of competition, the most by a Spartan men's team at a national championship since 1999.
