Costella nations top high school swimmer

Lauren Costella can add another title to her resume: She's the top-ranked scholastic high school female swimmer in the country.

The Carson High senior along with Carson High's Justin Barber and Tara Theilemann were all named as Academic All-Americans by USA Swimming for the 2001-2002 school year. All three swim for the Carson Tigersharks.

Costella is a two-time national champion, winning the 2001 and 2002 titles in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the United States Summer National Swimming Championships.

USA Swimming presents its Academic All-American awards to the top high school swimmers in the country. Scores are based on grade point averages and performance in the pool. Swimmers must have at least a 3.5 G.P.A. to qualify.

Costella was among four female swimmers and five swimmers overall to receive a perfect score of 250. The five swimmers that received perfect scores all won national titles and had 4.0 G.P.A.s

Ashley Chandler of Sun Devil Aquatics in Arizona, Kristen Caverly of the Gator Swim Club in California, Whitney Myers of the Miami Valley Aquatic Club and Eric Shanteau of Swim Atlanta all had perfect scores.

Theilemann and Barber also scored highly as Barber had a score of 188 and Theilemann had a score of 143.

In other news, Costella was chosen to swim in the 800 free and 400 individual medley at the 2003 World University Games in August in Daegu, South Korea. Apparently, Costella was chosen for those two events because she's the two-time national champion in the 1,500 free. The World University Games are for the world's top collegiate athletes. Costella is expected to sign with a top college program.