UGA swimmer named SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Huge congratulations to recent graduate UGA swimmer and Italian major Maddie Locus, who was named the 2014-15 Southeastern Conference H. Boyd McWhorter Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year:

Locus is the eighth Georgia swimmer to earn SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, and Georgia leads the list with 10 honorees since the award began in 1986.

After receiving the award May 28 during the SEC spring meeting in Destin, Florida, Locus doesn't have your typical summer plans. She will split her time between doing "math research" during her internship at Emory University and training for the World University Games, which will take place this July in South Korea.

The freestyle and butterfly sprinter from Sugarland, Texas, fast in the water and a summa cum laude graduate, is anything but typical.

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Along with being a math whiz and a standout in one of the most demanding of all collegiate sports, Locus studied Italian. And she earned the Outstanding Graduating Senior Italian Major/Minor Award.

"I didn't just want to be doing math, so I thought, what would be fun to learn? And I've always wanted to learn Italian, and one of the reasons is because my mom is 100 percent Italian, but she doesn't know Italian," Locus said. "The language is beautiful and the country is beautiful. I did a study-abroad two summers ago in Siena, which is in Tuscany. I loved it."

This is someone obviously very gifted getting everything they can not just out of their undergraduate experience, but out of life. Channeling all of her many talents into the discipline to fuel the hard work necessary to succeed at these elite levels is inspiring, the very best we can hope for from any student. Ultimo!

Image:  Locus, with her two gold medals she won in Texas in 2011. Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle