Georgia senior Wendy Trott has her eyes focused on the big prize on the final night of the 2012 Women’s NCAA Swimming Championship: a fourth-straight NCAA Title in the women’s mile, and a possible comeback victory for her Georgia Bulldogs.
But on Friday, without a serious swim (she raced the 400 IM, but had no designs on final’ing), Trott was allowed a momentary distraction as she was crowned this year’s Division I Elite 89 Award winner.
This three-year-old program recognizes the athlete in each sport and each division who has the highest GPA among those who advanced to the final championship site (typically the final four in team sports, championship meets in swimming). Trott, the South African Olympic hopeful, ended her career with a cumulative 3.97 GPA to take the honor.
Wendy is a student-athlete in the truest sense,” Georgia coach Jack Bauerle said. “She works incredibly hard at what she does, whether it’s in the classroom or in the pool. She is leader by example. Wendy is deserving of this recognition by the NCAA. We could not be prouder of her.”
Trott is majoring appropriately enough in International Affairs, with a minor in French. Aside from having the highest GPA at this year’s NCAA Championship meet, she also earlier this year earned Georgia’s Joel-Eaves Scholar Athlete Award as having the highest GPA among any athlete at Georgia.
That 3.97 GPA results from what can be presumed as all A’s and a singular B in her four years at Georgia as the only blemish on her academic record. On Saturday evening, she will try and keep a similar blemish from appearing on her athletic record in that mile.
This is the third-year the award has been given out, though it was previously known as the Elite 88 award. The 89 represents the total number of NCAA Championships awarded each year. This is the first time the award has been won by someone other than a Texas A&M swimmer, and the winners of the swimming awards consistently have higher GPA’s than winners in most other sports.
Previous Winners:
2010 – Ella Doerge, Texas A&M, 4.0
2011 – Alyssa Conner, Texas A&M, 4.0
2012 – Wendy Trott, Georgia, 3.97