LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- Southwestern University’s Jesse Stovall and Trinity University’s Katarina Partalas repeated as the league’s female Swimmer and Diver-of-the-Year, respectively, based on exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. 2022 All-SCAC Women's Swim/Dive Team
Stovall, a senior from Nacogdoches, Texas, capped off her historic career by capturing gold in all three of her events at the 2022 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships, winning the 50 free, the 100 free and the 100 fly. In the 50 free, she hit the wall in an SCAC Meet record time of 23.22 and became the first woman in league history to win the event four consecutive years. Her time of 50.97 in the 100 free marked the third fastest time in meet history and in the process, she joined Sewanee’s Jane H. Chapman as the only other four-time champion of the event. It was the second consecutive and third overall 100 fly championship when Stovall touched the wall in 55.71, the second fastest time in meet history. She became just the third swimmer in league history to capture three 100 fly titles. Historically, Stovall finishes her career tied for second all-time with 11 SCAC individual titles. The 2020 All-American earned her second invitation to the national championship meet, highlighted by a 47th-place finish in the 50 free.
Stovall, a three-time SCAC Swimmer-of-the-Meet honoree, becomes the seventh swimmer in league history to repeat as Swimmer-of-the-Year. Her selection is the third time a Southwestern swimmer has been voted SCAC Female Swimmer-of-the-Year.
Trinity’s Partalas, a senior from San Antonio, Texas swept the boards at the SCAC Championships for the second consecutive season on her way to earning her second-straight Diver-of-the-Meet honor. Her win on the 1-meter (475.85) marked the third-straight in the event, becoming just the fourth diver in SCAC history to win three-straight 1-meter titles. She won the 3-meter for the second-straight year with a score of 464.70 to become the ninth diver in league history to repeat on the high board. Partalas closed out her career with an exclamation point at the NCAA Championships with a pair of All-American performances. In the 1-meter, she earned Honorable Mention All-American honors after finishing ninth with a score of 412.15. In her final collegiate competition, Partalas took home third on the 3-meter, earning All-American honors, with a mark of 457.85. It was the highest individual diving finish for an SCAC diver since Trintiy’s Hayley Emerick finished runner-up on both the 1- and 3-meter board at the 2011 Championship. Partalas’ performance at nationals helped the Tigers to a 22nd-place finish, the highest SCAC finish at the NCAA Championships since Trinity claimed 19th at the 2017 championship.
Partalas is just the seventh diver in league history to repeat as SCAC Diver-of-the-Year. Her selection marks the 17th consecutive year a Trinity female student-athlete has taken home the top honor.
In balloting that was conducted at the conference championship meet, the Southwestern University staff - led by 11th-year head coach Jon Duncan, along with assistant coach Sarah James, diving coach Jake Foust and volunteer assistant Dr. Scott McLean - earned SCAC Women's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors. It marks just the second time in program history that Southwestern has earned the honor, former head coach Nicole Kaupp was honored in 2009.
