Vavra named Indiana Univ. 2012 Female Athlete of Year
PHOTO COURTESY OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY Indiana Univesity senior and Panther Valley grad Allysa Vavra qualified for the Pan Am Games with her outstanding efforts at the U.S. National Swim Championships that ran from late last week through the weekend.
The Indiana Department of Athletics has announced that senior swimmer Allysa Vavra has been named the 2012 Indiana Female Athlete of the Year.
Redshirt junior runner Andy Bayer was honored as the Male Athlete of the Year.
"Allysa and Andy represent what Indiana Athletics is all about: not only great athletes, but great students and young people with great character and values," said IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass. "We are proud of them and their accomplishments."
Vavra finished eighth in the 200-yard individual medley at the NCAA Championships, earning All-American honors. Her time of 1:55.58 in prelims is the second fastest in school history. She followed that up with a fifth-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:01.73, the second-fastest time in school history and an All-American performance. Her prelim time of 4:02.81 is the third-fastest time in school history.
Vavra also competed in the 200-yard breaststroke at the NCAA meet, placing seventh for All-America honors with a time of 2:09.61.
At the Big Ten Championships, Vavra defended her title in the 200 IM with a Big Ten meet record and school record time of 1:55.44. She won the Big Ten Championship in the 400 IM by more than 10 seconds, posting a Big Ten record time of 4:01.41. Vavra also took third in the 200 breaststroke at the Big Ten meet with a school-record time of 2:08.79.
For her senior season Vavra won two Big Ten titles, posting top-eight finishes in three events at the NCAA Championships and set school records in the 200 breaststroke, 200 IM and 400 IM.
"What a tremendous honor for Allysa Vavra," said Ray Looze, IU Head Swimming Coach. "With so many outstanding teams here at Indiana, our staff is humbled that Allysa would receive such recognition from our athletic department. She has come a long way as a person and has a bright future!"
Vavra has qualified for five individual events at the U.S. Olympic swim trials and just missed making the final Monday in the 400-meter individual medley, her best event. She placed ninth in qualifying with a time of 4:43.36. Her time was .19 seconds outside of eighth place and a spot in last night's final. Vavra was seeded 11th in the event.
She will also compete in the 200 IM on Wednesday, the 200 butterfly on Thursday, the 200 breaststroke on Friday and the 200 backstroke on Saturday. She is seeded 15th in the 200 IM, 57th in the 200 butterfly, 54th in the 200 breaststroke and 46th in the backstroke.
Northwestern Lehigh grad Madison Burns finished 107th in the 400 IM with a time of 5:02.52.
Kristen Shickora, a Marian grad, will compete in the 100 backstroke as the 11th seed and the 200 backstroke as the 60th seed. Preliminaries for the 100 backstroke were Tuesday morning, with semifinals slated for tonight and finals Wednesday evening. The 200 backstroke prelims are Saturday, with semifinals Saturday night and finals Sunday night.
