Olivet College’s Harden named to Academic All-America® team

OLIVET, Mich. – Recent Olivet College graduate Mike Harden (St. Johns) has earned 2012 Capital One Academic All-America® Division III Men's At-Large Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Harden is a first-team selection. A year ago, he was named to the Capital One Academic All-America® third-team.

Harden graduated with a 3.96 grade point average in a double major of environmental science and biology. He was a four-year letterwinner on the swimming and diving team. Harden competed in all five relays at the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championships, finishing as high as 15th in the 400 freestyle to earn honorable mention All-American honors. He holds the second-best time in school history in the 50 freestyle (:20.84), third-best time in 100 freestyle, (:46.59) and fourth-best time in the 100 butterfly (:52.10). Harden also swam a leg of four school-record relays.

Out of the pool, Harden was president of Comet Christian Fellowship and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and member of Sigma Zeta honor society, science club, American Chemical Society, Hosford Society of Scholars and Omicron Delta Kappa national honor society. He has also participated in many community service projects in the state of Michigan, the United States and globally.

This summer, Harden is working in Gainesville, Fla., under Head U.S. Olympic Men's Swimming Coach Gregg Troy. In the fall, he will enroll at University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment in the Behavior, Education and Communication program.

Harden is the 13th Olivet student-athlete in school history to earn Academic All-America® honors. Harden is the fourth in school history to earn more than one Academic All-America® award. The others were Travis Sleight in 2004 and 2005, Dustin Meisner in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and Kellen Beckwith in 2010 and 2011.

The Capital One Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2011-12 D-III Academic All-America® teams program.

The Capital One Academic All-America® Men's At-Large program includes the sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis, water polo and wrestling.

About Capital One      

Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., and ING Bank, fsb, had $216.5 billion in deposits and $294.5 billion in total assets outstanding as of March 31, 2012. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One and ING Direct offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has approximately 1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index.

Capital One, an NCAA Corporate Champion, began its affiliation with college sports with the sponsorship of the 2001 Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl) and ESPN's Capital One Bowl Week. In addition, Capital One sponsors the ABC College Football Halftime Report, Capital One All-America Mascot team, Capital One Academic All-America Program, and supports all 89 NCAA Championships including the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, and numerous other collegiate athletics programs.

About the Academic All-America® Program      

To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.

Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.