Costello Named AAA Team Member of the Year; Butler and Lobo Earn 3rd-Team Academic All-America
CHICAGO -- A trio of University of Chicago student-athletes earned their spot on the CSC Academic All-America team, as released by College Sports Communicators on Wednesday morning. Cooper Costello earned 1st-Team Academic All-America honors and was named the CSC Academic All-America Team Member of the Year as the top men's swimmer in the country. John Butler and Ryan Lobo were also selected as 3rd-Team Academic All-America award winners.
COLLEGE SPORTS COMMUNICATORS OFFICIAL RELEASE
CHICAGO -- A trio of University of Chicago student-athletes earned their spot on the CSC Academic All-America team, as released by College Sports Communicators on Wednesday morning.
Cooper Costello earned 1st-Team Academic All-America honors and was named the CSC Academic All-America Team Member of the Year as the top men's swimmer in the country.
John Butler and
Ryan Lobo were also selected as 3rd-Team Academic All-America award winners.
Cooper Costello became the first University of Chicago athlete in school history to be named the Academic All-America Team Member of the Year after winning five National Championships at the 2026 National Championship meet, sweeping his three individual events with titles in the 100 Fly, 200 Fly, and 200 IM. The Goleta, California native earned 1st-Team All-America honors in all seven of his events this season and won six UAA titles en route to being named the UAA Men's Swimmer of the Year. The junior chemistry and french double major wraps up his junior season as an 8-time National Champion and a 15-time All-American, and he holds the school record in 100 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Fly, 200 IM, 400 Free Relay, 800 Free Relay, and 400 Medley Relay.
Costello also joins Jesse Ssengonzi and Garrett Clasen as the three Maroons to earn multiple Academic All-American selections in their career, and he is the first UChicago swimmer and just the third UChicago athlete in school history to earn multiple 1st-Team Academic All-America selections, joining Nicholas D'Ambrose and Paul Haar.
John Butler added a 3rd-Team Academic All-America selection after earning seven 1st-Team All-America awards and winning a pair of National Championships. The Cedar Falls, Iowa native also won six UAA titles en route to being named the UAA Men's Swimmer of the Year. The sophomore economics and cognitive science double major enters his junior season as a 10-time All-American and a 4-time National Champion, and he holds the UChicago school record in five events, including the 50 Free, 200 Free, 400 Free Relay, 800 Free Relay, and 400 Medley Relay.
Ryan Lobo earns his 3rd-Team Academic All-America selection after winning his first-ever National Championship in the 400 Free Relay this season. The Melbourne, Australia native won both the DIII National Championship and the UAA Championship in the 400 Free Relay, earning his first career All-America honor and his first All-UAA award. The senior economics and computer science major is also minoring in data science, and he is a Neubauer Scholar, a Booth Mercer Scholar, and a member of the Derivatives of Data Science and the Professional Technology Fraternity of Kappa Theta Pi.
The three Academic All-Americans for the men's swimming and diving team tie the school record for the most Academic All-Americans for a single sport in a single season, happening twice before by the men's swimming & diving team in 2022-23 and 2024-25. The Academic All-American awards for Butler, Costello, and Lobo also extend the University of Chicago streak to 11 consecutive calendar years and 15 of the past 16 calendar years with an Academic All-American, dating back to 2011. The UChicago trio joins Alicia Soosai as the four Academic All-Americans in the 2025-26 academic year.