2026 SEC Women’s Swimming & Diving Community Service Team Announced

Courtesy: SEC Sports

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (February 16, 2025) – The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 22 league sponsored sports. The Community Service Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts. The 2026 SEC Women’s Swimming & Diving Community Service Team is as follows:

Syndey Blackhurst, Junior, Alabama

Blackhurst paces the Tide in community service hours, tallying over 400 hours this semester alongside her non-profit Beyond Barriers Swim Foundation. The non-profit specializes in one-on-one adaptive swimming lessons designed to meet the needs of children with disabilities and chronic illnesses. As the founder, Blackhurst has served over 50 participants. In addition to her time with Beyond Barries, she has also assisted with Habitat for Humanity, helping to build a house for someone in need within the community.

Malea Martinez, Senior, Arkansas

Martinez participated in many community service events throughout her four-year career in Arkansas. She participated in the 7Hills Service Drive and the Halloween Trunk or Treat with the Boys and Girls. Martinez also helped serve fans at the Shop with the Razorbacks event. She went on a three-day trip to Nassau, Bahamas where she helped clean up parks and host a youth sports clinic. A team captain, Martinez is an active participant with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), serving as the Community Engagement and Marketing Chair. She was twice named to the Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll and the Chancellor’s List.

Annika Finzen, Sophomore, Auburn

Finzen is busy as a fixture within the ever-growing community on the Plains. She has found a home within the Church of the Highlands, volunteering almost every Tuesday as part of its ONE service. Finzen also dedicates portions of her time volunteering for the local War Eagle Run Fest, benefiting the Run Gulf Coast Foundation, a non-profit that transforms lives by removing barriers and providing equitable access to active lifestyles across the lifespan. Last season, she was named a CSCAA Academic All-American and earned a spot on the First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Molly Mayne, Junior, Florida

Mayne has demonstrated outstanding community service through a wide variety of projects throughout the Gainesville community. She has participated in multiple Parker Elementary events, including classroom visits and stadium tours. Mayne has engaged with students by building meaningful connections over meals through the Lunch Buddies program and has helped students develop a love of reading as part of the Gators Read program. Through Gators Experience, which houses career, community, leadership, and personal development initiatives for all Gators student-athletes, Mayne has connected with diverse groups while promoting health and education through community projects such as International Night Fall, Brandon Lang Memorial Sports Climb for Cancer, and Chomp & Chats. Additionally, she has spent time with children and hospital staff at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital, making a positive impact on patients and families.

Elizabeth Isakson, Senior, Georgia

Isakson has been an active member of the Athens and UGA Athletics community. For the entire department, she serves as a team representative and member of the leadership team for the UGA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Isakson, a team captain, organizes the team’s community service initiatives. She has helped organize the “Spooky Dawgs” event with the Clarke County Mentor Program, welcoming local children to a special Halloween-themed activity at the football indoor facility. Isakson has also helped yearly with organizing the local Special Olympics prom and with supporting runners at the annual ATH Half Marathon. For MLK Day of Service, she worked with fellow student-athletes to clean up Athens-Clarke County. Isakson participated in a Pen Pal program with students at Barrow Elementary School, located next to the UGA Athletics headquarters. Isakson was presented with the 2025-26 Joel Eaves Scholar-Athlete Award, given to the senior student-athlete with the highest GPA entering their final season. She was also nominated to the Winter 2026 Allstate NACDA Good Works Team and was named to the 2024 SEC Community Service Team. Within the athletic department, she is a member of the UGA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Leadership Team and L.E.A.D. Leadership Academy. She has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll each year, along with the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll each semester with seven semesters of Presidential Scholars honors for 4.0 GPA. Additionally, she was named to the 2023 CSCAA Scholar-All America First Team.

Lily DeLong, Junior, Kentucky

DeLong has worked with Amachi, helping serve the youth of Lexington as a mentor. Her mentorship has included taking her mentee to church, making dinner with them, going to the trampoline park, and various other activities every week. DeLong has also served at a local church, where she aided packing food for the less fortunate and nannying children. She has helped at the Salvation Army, decorating cookies during the holidays. Active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), she travelled with FCA to Egypt and volunteered at three different sports camps. For her community service efforts, DeLong received the university’s CATSPY award for Community Service in 2025. She was named to the 2023-24 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll and the 2024-25 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Sydney Bales, Senior, Missouri

Bales has worked with the Special Olympics in Columbia as she helped coordinate and run practice for multiple sports including swimming, basketball, bowling, softball, and football. She also worked at Columbia schools as a recess/lunch mentor. Bales helped with the school district’s Halloween festivities. Bales competed with Swim Across America, a non-profit dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention, and treatment. She was twice named to the Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll and the 2022-23 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Sophie Verzyl, Senior, South Carolina

Verzyl engages in several community services in the Columbia area. She reads to students at multiple elementary schools. Verzyl also participated in Serve and Connect by passing out meals to local police officers. She took part in the 2025 Cocky’s All Sports Camp as part of the MLK Day of Service. Verzyl donated blankets to a local women’s shelter and volunteered with Meals on Wheels’ Operation Christmas, delivering meals to seniors during the holiday season. She is three-time CSCAA Scholar All-American who earned College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors in 2023 and 2025. Verzyl was also named to the 2021-22 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll and the 2022-23 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Julia Burroughs, Senior, Tennessee

Burroughs was a member of the 2025 VOLeaders Academy. Student-athletes admitted into the VOLeaders Academy learn how to be a positive force for their team, campus, and local and global communities. In Brazil, Burroughs volunteered her time to various charitable organizations, including Vida Corrida, Meninas em Campo, Mempodera, Gol de Letra, Empodera, Gol Girls. Gol Girls is an institute that helps uplift girls in underserved communities in Brazil, using sport as a tool to open positive opportunities for young women. Mempodera is an organization that promotes gender equality through sports and education, empowering youth and giving them lessons to help them strive to be the best version of themselves. Meninas em Campo offers young girls the opportunity to play soccer, offering a free program to more than 200 girls ages 9 to 17 while promoting health, social interaction, development of collective values, critical thinking skills, and citizenship. Burroughs has also worked directly with Knox Area Rescue Ministries (KARM). KARM is charity in the Knoxville-Area that works to help people struggling with homelessness, poverty, mental health, and addiction.

Halina Panczyszn, Junior, Texas A&M

Panczyszn gives back to the community in many ways, including as a participant in the Revved Up to Read program, a Texas A&M student-led program where student-athletes read to local elementary and intermediate school students to promote literacy. The program connects Aggies with local schools, inspiring minds and fostering a love for reading through in-person and virtual interactions. Panczyszn also served with the Aggies Can food drive, which collected non-perishable food items and monetary donations to benefit the Brazos Valley Food Bank and The 12^th Can. She volunteers with Chosen-BCS, a Christian-based, community-oriented organization that serves as a local warehouse and distribution center for new/gently used home healthcare supplies and equipment, and with the Aggieland Humane Society.

Bailey Ratzburg, Junior, Vanderbilt

Ratzburg has contributed her time and efforts to several organizations in the Nashville area since joining the Commodore program, leading the team in service hours during the 2025-26 campaign. She has served as an ambassador at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center on numerous occasions and has also volunteered on a regular basis with the Nashville Dolphins program, whose mission is to improve the health and quality of life for children and adults with special needs. Ratburg also was part of Vanderbilt’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee’s holiday party for students at Jones Paideia Elementary School last semester, contributed to Vanderbilt Athletics’ Anchorthon Big Event and has engaged with the program’s miracle child at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital. Ratzburg was named to the First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll following her freshman season before earning a spot on the 2024-25 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll.