BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Western Kentucky University swimmers Nick Slattery and Claire Donahue were among those recognized when the 2010-11 College Swimming Honors were announced Monday.
Slattery was named the Male Walk-on Swimmer of the Year award winner while Donahue was one of eight honorable mention honorees for the Female Breakout Swimmer of the Year award.
A Bowling Green, Ky., native, Slattery began his Hilltopper career when he walked on the team as a freshman. Four years later, he leaves the program as a Sun Belt Conference individual and team champion along with holding five school records and tied for a Sun Belt Conference record.
At the 2011 Sun Belt Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, Slattery won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1 47.45 seconds. The mark set a WKU record and tied an SBC record for the event. He went on to set a school record in the 200y butterfly along with being a part of three record-setting relay teams.
To read more about Slattery's Hilltopper career, click on the link to read a story by Josh Huger of Swimutopia.
Donahue finished second in the nation in the 100-yard butterfly event at the 2011 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, the highest finish in WKU history. Her individual point total helped the WKU team finish 27th in the nation, ahead of the team totals of in-state rivals Kentucky (28th) and Louisville (40th).
The Lenior City, Tenn., native finished the 100-yard butterfly in a school-record 51.68 seconds, which was also a personal best. The second-place finish improved on her fourth-place finish in the same event at last year's NCAA championships. Donahue also placed 14th in the nation in the 200-yard butterfly event.
She finished her WKU career as the school-record holder in both the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly along with eight individual Sun Belt Conference titles, three conference championships and the highest individual finish at the NCAA championships in school history. She also participated in three NCAA Championships.
The open nomination process for the 2010-11 season concluded on April 30th. Coaches, athletes and sport administrators submitted their nominees for a sample of categories including Career Improvement, Break-Out Swimmer, Break-Out Diver, Break-Out Team and Most Exciting Dual Meet. In all, over 100 athletes and/or teams from nearly seventy institutions were nominated for their achievements.a
