CHARLOTTE, N.C. (TheCCSA.com) – Liberty junior Alicia Finnigan (Sugar Land, Texas) has been named the CCSA Women's Swimmer of the Year, and Incarnate Word graduate student Savanna Meadows (Austin, Texas) has been named CCSA Women's Diver of the Year, for the 2017-18 season. In addition, UNC Asheville sophomore Catherine Allen (Raleigh, N.C.) has been named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the CCSA announced Thursday.
Finnigan earned three medals at the 2018 CCSA Championships. She set a CCSA meet record in the 200 fly where she won the CCSA title in 1:56.41, and her 1:55.33 from the Liberty Last Chance Meet is a conference record. Finnigan also placed 20th in the 200 fly at the NCAA Championships, the best NCAA finish of any CCSA swimmer this season. She also finished as the CCSA runner-up in the 100 fly and placed third in the 500 free.
Meadows was named the CCSA Diver of the Week twice during the 2017-18 season for her performances on the 1-Meter and 3-Meter boards. She set a new CCSA record in the women's 1-meter dive with a score of 335.8. Meadows also earned the Women's Most Outstanding Diver of the Championship award at this year's CCSA Championship.
Allen holds a perfect 4.0 GPA, as she pursues a degree in Biology from the UNC Asheville. She received the Pisgah Merit Aid, which is a distinguishing financial aid merit based on academics. Allen is completing undergraduate research by testing co-cultures of bacteria to determine if they show any antibiotic activity against Staph and E. Coli. In the pool she broke four school records at CCSA Championships – the 100 fly (56.38), 200 fly (2:02.13), 800 free relay team member (7:28.37) and 400 medley team member (3:48.36).
Also nominated for Swimmer of the Year: Michelle Case (Campbell), Gracie Redding (Florida Gulf Coast), Lauren Oglesby (Gardner-Webb), KaSandra Kaplan (Howard) and Morgan Rulevich (UNC Asheville)
Also nominated for Diver of the Year: Melissa Novak (Florida Gulf Coast) and Christian Nickolas (Howard).
Also nominated for Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Michelle Case (Campbell), Christina Elmgreen (Florida Gulf Coast), London Schumacher (Gardner-Webb), Alicia Finnigan (Liberty) and Sydney Mutschler (North Florida).