Rigamonti Earns Presidential Award of Excellence Scholar/Athlete Award

DALLAS, Texas, April 26. SENIOR Flavia Rigamonti was awarded the Presidential Award of Excellence Scholar/Athlete Award on Monday. It is the highest honor SMU bestows on a student athlete. It is given to a student athlete with a 3.5 grade point average or higher who has contributed unselfishly to the SMU athletic program. Rigamonti, an advertising major, has a 3.92 GPA .

In-addition to her academic success, she has had great success as a Mustang athlete as she was recently awarded with the top conference award being named Conference USA Swimmer of the Year. Rigamonti broke two meet and pool records en route to capturing the 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle crowns at the 2006 Conference USA Championship.

The senior, who was named Co-Swimmer of the C-USA Meet on Feb. 25, notched over 10 first-place finishes and over 15 top three finishes this season. Rigamonti garnered Swimmer of the Week honors a league-record four times this season. In February, the Switzerland native topped the C-USA Meet record in the 1,650-yard freestyle event with a time of 15:59.96 and earned the gold in the 500 free with a time of 4:40.55. That mark beat the previous championship record of 4:45.90, which was set by Maria Oberg of Cincinnati in 2002.

Rigamonti concluded her collegiate career in Federal Way, Wash., at the 2006 Spring Championships, competing among 700 elite athletes. Seeded seventh in the 400-meter freestyle event, the veteran pulled a silver medal and a time of 4:16.44 and posted a time of 16:24.56 for first-place in the 1,500-meter free. She is a four-year All-American in the 500 and 1,650-yard free as well as a five-time NCAA Champion.

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