April 26, 2004
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men’s and swimming and diving teams named its awards winners for the 2003-04 season on Saturday, April 17. The most prestigous award, Fred Lanoue Athletic Achievement Award, was given to All-Americans Sam Morgan and Vesna Stojanovska.
Along with handing out the awards, Tech head coach Seth Baron went on to name the captains for the upcoming 2004-05 season; Matt Figh, Ryan Riebesell, Lisa Hancock and Michelle Maguire.
Fred Lanoue Athletic Achievement Award
This most prestigous award is given to the student-athlete that brings the highest recognition to the institution through their outstanding athletic achievements.
Sam Morgan – Qualified for the NCAA Championships for the second straight season with a personal-best time of 15:07.52 in the 1650-yard freestyle, finishing fourth at the ACC Championships. Tallied a 15th-place finish at NCAAs in the mile and paced the Yellow Jackets to a 35th-place finish.
Vesna Stojanovska – Became the first women’s swimming and diving athlete to garner All-America honors with a 10th-place finish in the 200-meter butterfly at the NCAA Championships. Also posted a personal-best time in the 400-meter freestyle event to finish 19th at the NCAA meet. Led Tech to a 33rd-place finish at nationals, the first ever in Tech’s three-year existence.
Shilo Ayalon Most Valuable Athlete Award
This award is named after current graduate assistant coach and former All-American, Shilo Ayalon. Ayalon was the most successful swimmer at Tech during his four years here, 1999-2003, becoming the first ever men’s swimming and diving athlete to earn All-America honors. Teh 2003 ACC champion in the 1650 free, was named ACC Male Athlete of the Year in ’03 after setting a new conference record in the mile. Along with his athletic accomplishments, the Tel-Aviv, Israel native, was the recipient of the ACC James Weaver Corrigan and NCAA Post-Graduate scholarships for excellence in mechanical engineering.
This award is presented in recognition to the student-athlete that performed consistently, throughout the season, at the highest level of athletic achievement and contributed to the overall success of the Georgia Tech swimmig and diving team.
Matt Figh – Posted top-eight finishes at the ACC Championships in the 500, 200 free and 200 fly. Tied Ayalon’s school record in the 200 free at the ACC meet and tallied two NCAA ‘B’ cut times at the conference championships. Just missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships by a couple tenths-of-a-second.
Laurissa Prystaj – Registered a pair of top-10 finishes at the ACC meet on the one- and three-meter springboards. Broke the school record on the three-meter board and finished fifth, while tallying a ninth-place finish on the one-meter board at the conference championships. Qualified for the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships for the second straight season, finishing 18th on the three-meter board, 20th on the platform and 25th on the one-meter board.
Tommy Towles Scholar Athlete Award
This award is given to the student-athlete that possess the highest level of performance, scholarship and leadership in making Georgia Tech a better institution and swimmig and diving program.
Itai Eden – Team captain and GTAA Student-Athlete Advisory Board member, Itai Eden posted a perfect 4.00 G.P.A in the fall semester and had an overall cumulative G.P.A of 3.80. Eden will graduate this summer with a degree in electrical engineering. He currently ranks in Tech’s Top 10 All-time lists in the 200 and 500 freestyle events and was a finalist at the ACC Championships.
Ashley Kracke – A member of the GTAA Student-Athlete Advisory Board and GT Baptist Student Union, Kracke tallied two top-eight finishes in the 100 and 200 backstroke events at the ACC Championships. Posted a NCAA ‘B’ cut time in the 200 back and swam a leg of each of the record-setting relay events (400 medley and 800 free) at the ACC meet.
Chapman/Hiles Most Improved Award
This award is given to the student-athlete with the greatest athletic improvements throughout the year of competition.
Jason Howard – Improved his times throughout the dual meet season and tallied a top-eight finish in the 200 free at the ACC Championships. Posted a Tech season-best time of 45.73 in the 100 free at the ACC meet and swam on the 400 free relay team that broke the school record at the conference meet.
Jaclyn Keys – Held the second fastest time on the Tech squad in the 50 free and fourth fastest in the 100 free. Competed in the ‘B’ finals at the ACC Championships in the 50 free and 100 back. Posted lifetime-best marks in the 50 free (23.77) and 100 back (57.53), finishing 12th and 13th, respectively, at the conference championships.
Elizabeth Foster – Qualified for the finals in the 100 free and 100 fly at ACC’s, setting a new school record in both with times of 51.49 and 55.47, respectively. Foster set her third school record on the season in the 200 individual medley at the conference meet with a time of 2:05.39.
J. Herb McAuley Freshman Unity Award
This award is given to the student-athlete that exemplifies the standards of leadership and team unity through their personal actions in and out of the pool.
Mario Montalvo – Held the team’s third fastest times of the season in the 100 and 200 butterfly events. Posted the fifth fastest time in the 200 IM at the ACC Championships. Was a finalist in the 100 fly and 200 fly at the conference meet.
Alison Walker – Swam a school record time of 1:04.00 in the 100 breaststroke at the ACC Championships, finishing 10th in the finals. Tallied her second 10th-place finish at the ACC meet, this time in the 200 breast with a season-best time of 2:19.66. Carried a 3.30 G.P.A in the fall semester in business/management.
