Swimmer Townley Haas of the University of Texas is one of the eight finalists for the 2018 AAU Sullivan Award. He was one of two swimmers named semifinalists for the award, along with Stanford senior Ella Eastin. Every year since 1930 the AAU Sullivan Award has been bestowed upon the nation’s best amateur athlete. Swimmers have won the award 12 times, including Mark Spitz in 1971, Michael Phelps in 2003, and Missy Franklin in 2012.
Townley Haas – Swimming – Texas
At the 2018 Men’s NCAA Championship meet he set the NCAA/American/US Open records in the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:29.50, becoming only the second person to go under the 1:30 barrier. He also won the 500-yard freestyle at this meet with a 4:08.60, which is the 4th fastest time in that event in history. Over the summer he won gold in the 200-meter freestyle at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo and the 800-meter freestyle relay, where his 1:43.78 anchor split (3rd fastest split of all time) was the deciding factor in a .34 second victory over the Australians. Next weekend, he’ll swim in his 4th-and-final NCAA Championship in his home pool in Austin, Texas.
For more information on each of the finalists and the history of the award, click here. Finalist voting ends on March 22nd at 11:59 pm EST. Voters are allowed one vote per day. The complete list of finalists is below:
| Aleia Hobbs – Track and Field – LSU |
| Kathryn Plummer – Volleyball – Stanford |
| Luke Maye – Basketball – UNC |
| McKenzie Milton – Football – University of Central Florida |
| Mikaela Foecke – Volleyball – Nebraska |
| Morgan Hurd – Gymnastics – USAG |
| Rachel Garcia – Softball – UCLA |
| Townley Haas – Swimming – Texas |
Thank you for the link. Just voted Townley! One more day to cast our votes.
anyone know how they define “amateur”? Phelps was a professional swimmer in ’03
It seems to be an evolving definition. I think it used to include all athletes who basically were in sports that aren’t traditionally thought of as ‘pro sports,’ but now is more focused on true amateurs like Townley.