Madeline Vacula Earns All-SCAC Honors
Trinity University teammates Neely Burns and Alexis Radhakrishnan were named 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. 2023 All-SCAC Team Sophomore Madeline Vacula (Belton, Texas) won the 1650 free in a personal-best time of 17:55.66 at the SCAC Championships last month to earn all-conference honors for the second season in a row.
SUWANEE, Ga. – Trinity University teammates Neely Burns and Alexis Radhakrishnan were named 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. 2023 All-SCAC Team
Sophomore Madeline Vacula (Belton, Texas) won the 1650 free in a personal-best time of 17:55.66 at the SCAC Championships last month to earn all-conference honors for the second season in a row.
Burns, a first-year from Phoenix, Ariz., burst onto the scene and put together one of the most prolific seasons in SCAC history. In her inaugural SCAC Championship meet she captured gold in championship meet record times in all three of her individual events en route to being named Swimmer-of-the-Meet. She swept the individual medleys, winning the 200 in a time of 2:03.48 and the 400 in 4:21.76. She closed out the SCAC Championship by winning the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:17.35.
Following the SCAC Championships, Burns shined on the national stage, posting three All-American performances while representing the Tigers at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships earlier this month. She opened the meet by finishing seventh in the 200-yard IM after setting a new SCAC open record time in prelims with a mark of 2:02.03. The highlight of the week was her National Runner-up effort in the 400-yard IM when she hit the wall in an SCAC open record time of 4:18.50. It marked the highest individual finish at the NCAA Championships by any SCAC athlete since Stephen Culberson of Trinity captured the 100-yard freestyle National Title in 2014 and the highest from any female since Trinity's Ruth Hahn won the 3-meter title in 2012. Burns closed out her historic NCAA meet with an eighth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke. It was her third SCAC open record time of the week when she touched the wall in 2:16.49 in the prelim swim. Her performance marked the first time in SCAC history an individual has earned three All-American honors in three different individual events at the same championship. Burns' efforts help life the Tigers to a 19th-place team finish, tying the highest SCAC team finish since the Tigers took home 19th at the 2017 Championships.
Burns' selection marks the seventh time in the last 10 years – and eighth overall – that a Trinity student-athlete has earned SCAC Female Swimmer of the Year honors.
Radhakrishnan, a sophomore from Lexington, Ky., swept both the boards at the 2023 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships en route to being named Diver-of-the-Meet. She took top honors in the 3-meter with a score of 470.55 and the 1-meter with a mark of 433.75. Radhakrishnan became the 10th diver in SCAC history to sweep both the boards at the championships. She closed out her sophomore campaign by making her second-straight appearance at the NCAA Championships, finishing 19th in the 1-meter (370.30) and 26th in the 3-meter (333.50).
Her selection marks the 18th consecutive year a Trinity female student-athlete has taken home league's the top diving honor.
In balloting that was conducted at the conference championship meet, the Trinity University staff - led by second-year head coach Cathleen Pruden, along with assistant coach John Ryan, assistant coach Adrien Downey, and diving coach Stan Randall - earned SCAC Women's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors. It marked the first Women's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honor for Pruden and second overall (2021-22 Men's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year) since she took over prior to the 2021-22 campaign.
