We get dozens of e-mails from PR companies - my policy usually is, I'll look at the phone number of the company, and if it's not local, I'll delete the e-mail. I nearly deleted one today, but I recognized the name Dana Vollmer. We did a story on her 4 years ago, when she swam in her first-ever high school meet (until then, she had been swimming exclusively on her club team). She won an olympic medal in 2004, then enrolled at Granbury high school as a junior; she had been home schooled until then.

Here's a story I did on her in 2005.

I've cut and paste the release that the PR company sent out about Dana - she won an award as the top female collegiate swimmer.

April 1, 2009 -- Dana Vollmer, a senior at the University of California Berkeley and an Olympic Gold medallist, has been chosen as the nation's top collegiate female athlete in swimming & diving. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 33rd year.

Vollmer's victory will earn her the 2009 Honda Sports Award for swimming & diving, given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, along with automatic nomination for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Vollmer was previously nominated for the Honda Sports Award for swimming & diving in 2007, and she is the third athlete from UC Berkeley to win it. The other winners, both of whom received the award twice, are Mary T. Meagher (1985, '87) and Natalie Coughlin (2002, '03). Vollmer was voted over three other nominees: Julia Smit, a junior at Stanford University; Rebecca Soni, a University of Southern California senior and Gemma Spofforth, a junior at the University of Florida. All four nominees were selected by the AVCA All-American Selection Committee.

"Dana truly represents what a student athlete is all about," said her head coach Teri McKeever. "She did a great job helping lead this team to a Pac-10 and NCAA title. I'm very proud of her and this accomplishment."

Noted Vollmer: "It's such an honor to be included with such names as Mary T. Meagher and Natalie Coughlin as a Honda Sports Award winner. I remember when I was young I followed Meagher and made it a goal of mine to chase her records. It's been a very overwhelming season and I was extremely excited to go out with a Pac-10 title and national title. It was the last time I would swim a relay with my team, and it's just icing on the cake."

Vollmer, who transferred to Berkeley from the University of Florida, was named the 2009 NCAA Swimmer of the Year after claiming individual titles in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events at the 2009 NCAA Championships and helping lead her team to its first-ever National Championship. She also helped her team claim two relay titles in the 400- and 800-yard freestyle relays. In the 100-yard freestyle, she swam a personal-best time of 47.17, and also posted a time of 1:42.01, a new NCAA Championship meet record, in the 200-yard freestyle prelims. Vollmer leaves Berkeley with three individual NCAA titles in three years (including a 100-yard butterfly championship in 2007). Vollmer was also instrumental helping Cal win its sixth straight Pac-10 title, clocking a Pac-10, NCAA, Cal and American record time of 1:41.53 in the leadoff 200-yard leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay.

Internationally, Vollmer was a Gold medallist at the 2004 Olympics in Athens as a member of the United States 4 x 200m freestyle relay team. She is an Anthropology major with a 3.26 GPA.

Previously announced Honda Sports Award recipients are Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego for cross-country, Susie Rowe from the University of Maryland for Field Hockey, Casey Nogueira from the University of North Carolina for soccer and Nicole Fawcett from Penn State University for volleyball. Honda Sports Award winners in basketball, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, softball, tennis and track & field will be announced in the coming months. The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be determined by separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions and the winner will receive the Honda-Broderick Cup at a ceremony in New York in June 2009.

American Honda Motor Co., Inc. sponsors the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program.

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