Macena Named Men's S&D Senior Scholar Athlete
Macena Named Men's S&D Senior Scholar Athlete
TOWSON, Md. – The Landmark Conference selects 22 senior scholar athletes each year to recognize the top student-athlete in each sport based on academics and athletics.
The honorees must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.20 and are selected by a committee of Landmark Conference officers, athletics directors, senior woman administrators, faculty athletic representatives, and sports information directors.
Matheus Macena is the first Drew men's swimming & diving athlete to win the award. Last year, the Ranger women's swimming & diving program won it for the first time when Mal Vishwanath C'20 landed the same honor.
A backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle specialist, Macena has made his mark as an outstanding performer for the Rangers throughout his career, both individually and as a relay competitor. He is a five-time All-Landmark Conference performer, earning first-team honors in 2020 when he helped Drew win the conference title in the 200-medley relay. He was also a second-team honoree at the same championship for capturing runner-up honors in both the 100-backstroke and the 200-freestyle relay.
This past year, Macena closed out his collegiate career by earning a pair of Second Team All-Landmark honors at the conference's virtual championships, helping the 200- and 400-medley relays to runner-up status. He was also a bronze medalist in the 100-backstroke.
Macena has a hand in four different Drew records, including the 100-backstroke (51.72), 200-freestyle relay (1:23.98), 200-medley relay (1:33.99), and 400-medley relay (3:29.41).
A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Macena has helped the Rangers to steady improvement throughout his time at the Forest. During each of his first two seasons, the Rangers posted their top finish in team history at the Landmark Conference Championships with consecutive fourth-place showings. They followed up with a third-place performance in 2020 before finishing as the conference runner-up this past year.
In the classroom, Macena is a physics major with minors in computer science and mathematics. In 2019, he was awarded the Robert Fenstermacher Summer Research Fellowship, which gave him the opportunity to work in the Drew Summer Science Institute and perform scientific research on confocal microscopy and optical trapping in an Optics lab. With his work over that summer, he was selected to present his group's work at the 2020 ICFNJ Undergraduate Research Symposium. Additionally, he was awarded the John F. Ollom Prize in Physics in 2018. Macena was elected the President of the Society of Physics Students chapter at Drew after previously serving as Activities Coordinator.
Macena is a two-time Landmark Conference Academic Honor Roll recipient and is expected to be named to the list once again this season. He is also a CoSIDA Academic All-America nominee.
Complete List of Senior Scholar Athletes