INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 28. FORMER Georgia swimmer Kim Black, who is currently participating in the 2001 World University Games in Beijing, China, has been
named the NCAA Woman of the Year for the state of Georgia.
This is the second consecutive year that the state of Georgia's representative was a Lady Bulldog swimmer, as Olympic silver medalist Kristy Kowal, who was named state and national 2000 NCAA Woman of the Year, was the
Peach State selection a year ago.
A native of Liverpool, N.Y., Black helped the Lady Bulldogs to their third straight NCAA championship and fifth consecutive SEC title this year. She was a member of the winning 800-yard freestyle relay team at the 2001 NCAAs and SECs, and she set season-bests in three events at SECs.
Black is currently a member of the USA's World University Games team after an eighth-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle at World Trials. Several days ago, she won a gold medal as a member the 800-meter freestyle relay team. That is the same event she earned a gold medal in at the 2000 Olympic Games. She finished fourth in the individual 200 meters today.
Black, who is the daughter of James and Nancy Black, is a two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and a Presidential Scholar at Georgia. During her freshman year at Ohio State University, Black was an OSU Scholar-Athleteand a member of the Dean¹s List.
Black has been active in many community service and campus activities, such as Athens-Clarke County Mentor Program, Athens Regional Medical Center and has spoken to numerous elementary schools about setting goals and her experiences at the 2000 Olympic Games. She also has been a member of the Alpha Lamda Delta, Phi Eta Sigma and Alpha Epsilon Delta honor societies. She was a State of Georgia finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship and a 2000-01 Ramsey Scholar as one of the top 10 Georgia athletes by grade-point average.
Black plans on entering medical school following her undergraduate study at Georgia.
Earlier this year, Black was honored as the Verizon Academic All-America Fall/Winter Women¹s At-Large Team Member of the Year as announced by Verizon and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). She was recognized by the Boy Scouts of America (Atlanta division) by receiving the Peach of an Athlete Award, as well as being the female recipient of the 2000-2001 H. Boyd McWhorter Southeastern Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. She has been honored by the NCAA on two occasions this year, becoming the first Georgia swimmer to receive the Walter Byers Post-Graduate
Scholarship and later with the NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship.
From the 51 state winners, 10 finalists will be chosen in early September. The national winner will be chosen from the 10 finalist and announced at the 2001 NCAA Woman of the Year awards banquet on Oct. 21, at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis. This year's theme will celebrate "Stars for Tomorrow."
Previous winners include Lady Bulldog Kristy Kowal (2000), California's Jamila Demby (1999), Peggy Boutilier from Virginia (1998) and the late Lisa Ann Coole from Georgia (1997).