April 4, 2007

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. -- Navy sophomore Kelly Zahalka (Richmond, Va.) became the fourth women's swimmer in Patriot League history to be selected as both the league's swimmer of the championship meet and scholar-athlete of the year for the sport in the same season Wednesday when she was announced as the recipient of the latter award by the league office.

Zahalka, a history major who is also working towards a minor in Chinese, carries a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average and is ranked second in her class at Navy.

She earned league swimmer-of-the-meet accolades this season after winning the 200 butterfly and both individual medley events at the league championship to help Navy win the program's first team title in five years. Zahalka also was a member of Navy's victorious 400 and 800 freestyle relay teams at the championship.

Zahalka, who also won the Patriot League title in the 400 IM as a freshman, holds Navy, Patriot League and league meet records in the 200 fly and 400 IM events and has posted the third-fastest time in school history in the 200 IM.

She joins Heather Davies ('93) and Allison Moon (2004) as the lone Mids to be tabbed as the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's swimming and diving.

The list of swimmers who have garnered the league's top athletic and academic awards for the sport in the same season features Jill Addesa (Holy Cross, 1992), Colleen Lynch (Holy Cross, '95), Meghan Thiel (American, 2006) and Zahalka.