July 10, 2008
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. -- Two-time Academic All-American Kelly Zahalka (Richmond, Va.) has been selected as the Patriot League's 2007-08 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Thursday.
Zahalka is the first women's swimmer to earn the laurel in the 17 years of the award -- Army's Steve Haley (1998) is the only men's swimmer to win the award -- and is the seventh junior to garner the accolade. Additionally, she is the second-straight and fourth overall Navy student-athlete to receive the accolade (Nicole Aunapu, soccer, 1999; Kate Macfarlane, soccer, 2002; Kirsten Andrews, track & field, 2007), giving Navy the most recipients of the award in the league (Bucknell has totaled three nods over the years).
Zahalka was selected as the overall scholar-athlete of the year after previously being tabbed as the top scholar-athlete for swimming. This is the second consecutive year in which she received the laurel for her sport, which required all nominees to be at least a sophomore with a minimum 3.20 grade-point average and have earned a varsity letter.
In addition to Zahalka, Navy's Vicki Moore (both indoor and outdoor track and field) and Rachel Dougherty (volleyball) also were selected as the scholar-athlete of the year for their respective sports during the 2007-08 academic year.
An honors history major who is also working towards a minor in Chinese, Zahalka has attained a 4.00 GPA during each of her six completed semesters at Navy and is ranked first in her class on both the Academic and Military Orders of Merit. She recently was selected as one of 65 juniors nationwide as a Truman Scholar based upon "leadership potential, intellectual ability and likelihood of making a difference" with the "intent to pursue a career in the government or the not-for-profit sector." As a Truman Scholar she will receive both a scholarship to attend graduate school and the opportunity to have an internship with a government agency.
Zahalka won individual event titles at the Patriot League Championship this year in the 200 fly and 400 individual medley and placed second by 0.08 seconds in the 200 IM to rank second at the meet in individual points earned and run her career total to six individual event titles. She also was a member of Navy's victorious 200 and 800 freestyle relay teams at the championship to increase her career tally to four relay crowns.
A three-time First-Team All-Patriot League performer who earned the league's swimmer-of-the-year accolade in 2007, Zahalka holds Navy's 200 fly record, the school and league record in the 400 IM and the league meet standard in the 200 fly (set this year) and the 400 IM. She also won 24 of her 37 individual event races during the 2007-08 regular season and has now totaled 70 career regular season wins.
After being selected as an ESPN the Magazine Third-Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America in 2007, Zahalka garnered first-team honors this season. She is just the third female and the ninth Navy student-athlete overall to have garnered a pair of Academic All-America honors since the program began over one-half century ago.
