Navy’s Kelly Zahalka Earns Marshall Scholarship, Finalist for Rhodes Scholarship

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, November 24. NAVY women's swimmer and two-time Academic All-American Kelly Zahalka was one of three Midshipmen to be named as recipients of a Marshall Scholarship, the Marshall Commission announced over the weekend. The awards garnered by Zahalka – who also was a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship – and fellow classmates Hank Donaghy and Ben Zintak brings the total of all-time Marshall Scholarship honorees at Navy to 22.

The Marshall Scholarship is named after General George C. Marshall (1880-1959). After entering the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant in 1902, he became the first American general to earn five stars and the accompanying rank of General of the Army. He resigned his post as Chief of Staff in 1945 before going on to serve as Secretary of State from 1947-49 and Secretary of Defense from 1950-51. His Marshall Plan to help the U.S. rebuild Europe in the years after the conclusion of the Second World War earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.

In recognition for his efforts in Europe, the British Parliament created the Marshall Scholarship in 1953 to "strengthen the enduring relationship between the British and American peoples, their governments and their institutions." The award provides a minimum of two years (with an additional year possible) of fully-funded study at any United Kingdom university to U.S. students. It is presented annually to roughly 40 of the 1,000 applicants.

Marshall was appointed to his two Cabinet posts by President Harry Truman. This is fitting since six months ago Zahalka also was named as one of 65 recipients of a Truman Scholarship for graduate study.

Zahalka, who is currently completing the fall semester as an exchange student at Capital Normal University in Beijing, China, is an honors history major at Navy who is also working towards a minor in Chinese. She holds a 4.00 cumulative grade-point average, is ranked first in her class on the Military Order of Merit and served as the Brigade Sergeant Major during the 2007 fall term.

In the pool, Zahalka has earned First-Team All-Patriot League honors during each of her three seasons at Navy and was tabbed as the 2007 Patriot League Female Swimmer of the Year. She has won at least one individual event crown at each of her three league championship meets and her total of six titles ranks eighth in Patriot League history. Zahalka holds Navy records in the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley events, with her time of 4:22.95 in the latter event also standing as a Patriot League record.

Zahalka was selected as the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Women's Swimming and Diving in both 2007 and ‘08 before being tabbed as the Patriot League Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year (for all league sports) this past spring. Additionally, she earned Third-Team Academic All-American honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America as a sophomore and garnered first-team laurels from the organization as a junior.

Upon graduating from Navy in May of 2009, Zahalka will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Special thanks to Navy for contributing this report.

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