Queens junior Polina Lapshina has been named DII Honda Award Finalist for swimming & diving, announced by Executive Director Chris Voelz of THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) presented by Honda.
“It is a great honor for me to be a finalist for the DII Female Athlete of the Year,” Lapshina said. “Also, behind a good performance there are always a huge effort to achieve success. Not only my effort, but also of my coaches John Long, Jeff Dugdale, Bob Groseth, Julia Czentye and the Queens program overall. So, I’m happy to represent Queens and I hope the next swimming season will be even better.”
During the 2019 NCAA DII Championships, Lapshina walked away with 4 individual wins and 3 relay victories. Along with her individual title in the 50 free, Lapshina also broke national records with her wins in the 100 back (52.04), 100 fly (52.16), and 100 free (48.16). Lapshina was also part of the winning 200 free relay and the record-breaking 400 medley relay (3:35.70) and 400 free relay (3:18.04). Her efforts aided the Royals to their 5th-consecutive national title.
The Royals swimmer was named 2019 CSCAA Division II Female Swimmer of the Meet and Bluegrass Mountain Conference Swimmer of the Year and Swimmer of the Meet.
As stated in the Honda press release, all sports nominees from divisions II and III become finalists for the 2019 Honda Athlete of the Year. The nominees are recognized in 11 NCAA-sanctioned sports, which include cross country, basketball, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, volleyball, and track and field.
In the award’s history, only one swimmer was awarded the DII Honda Athlete of the Year, Truman State’s Jessica Martin in 2001. Last year, cross country athlete Caroline Kurgat of Alaska Anchorage won the prestigious award.
The winner will be voted by 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of THE CWSA program at the end of the academic year. The winner will be presented in a live telecast on CBS Sports on June 24, 2019, in downtown Los Angeles.
