from NavySports.com:Navy swimming standout Kelly Zahalka (Sr., Richmond, Va.) was named by USA Today to its First-Team All-USA College Academic Team. The entire list of first, second and third-team and honorable mention recipients was announced Wednesday by the publication.
This is the 20th year in which USA Today has selected the team, which is meant to honor undergraduate students at four-year colleges based upon their "intellectual endeavors, community service and campus leadership."
An honors history major with a Chinese minor, Zahalka is ranked third in Navy's Class of 2009 with a 4.00 cumulative grade-point average. She spent the 2008 fall semester as an exchange student at Capital Normal University in Beijing, China, and will be commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps upon graduating from Navy next month.
Zahalka has previously received both a Harry S. Truman and Gen. George C. Marshall Scholarship. Criteria for the Truman Scholarship included "leadership potential, intellectual ability and the likelihood of making a difference," while the Marshall Scholarship will allow her to study for two years in the United Kingdom.
Zahalka is the first women's swimmer in Patriot League history to have been selected as the league scholar-athlete of the year for her sport three times, and was named as the overall female scholar-athlete of the year in the league in 2008. She has earned Academic All-America honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America in both 2007 (third team) and `08 (first team).
Click here for the complete article: http://www.navysports.com/sports/w-swim/spec-rel/042909aab.html.
