Spofforth Named a Nominee for the 2008-09 Honda Sports Award
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Gator junior and 18-time All-American Gemma Spofforth (West Sussex, England) is one of four nominees for the 2008-09 Swimming and Diving Honda Sports Award, announced Tuesday. Spofforth is a contender for the annual award for the second-consecutive season. Last year, former Gator Caroline Burckle took home the award, becoming the fourth UF swimmer to win the Honda Sports Award.
The winner of the Swimming and Diving Honda Award will be named as a candidate for the Honda-Broderick Cup, awarded annually to the Collegiate Woman of the Year. Spofforth is joined on the ballot by Julia Smit (Stanford University), Rebecca Soni (University of Southern California) and Dana Vollmer (Cal).
The consideration comes after Spofforth garnered two individual National Championship titles at the 2009 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, Texas, March 19-21, escalating her career total to five NCAA titles.
The 2009 SEC Swimmer of the Year, Spofforth won her second-consecutive NCAA title in the 100 back and her third-consecutive in the 200 back, Florida's 99th and 100th national titles all-time. She became one of four women in NCAA history, joining Sue Walsh (UNC, 1982-84), Betsy Mitchell (Texas, 1986-88) and Natalie Coughlin (Cal, 2001-03), to win the 200-yard backstroke three-consecutive years. Spofforth also became the second Gator, joining former UF swimmer Kristen Linehan, to win both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke races in back-to-back seasons, as Linehan did so in 1989 and 1990.
After securing the U.S. Open and NCAA record (1:48.34) as the 200-yard back SEC Champion in February, Spofforth additionally took claim over the NCAA meet record with her 1:49.11 NCAA swim March 21. Spofforth additionally captured the 100-yard back in UF record time at the SEC Championships in February.
Should she be the 2009 Honda Sports Award Winner, Spofforth would join Burckle (200), Renee Laravie (1978), Tracy Caulkins (1982-84) and Nicole Haislett (1994) as the only recipients of the award in Florida's history. For being honored with the selection, American Honda will donate $1,000 to the women's athletic fund of each nominee's university. The winner's program will receive $5,000.
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