GARDEN GROVE, California, September 15. USA Swimming closed out the 2013 United States Aquatic Sports Convention with two more awards on the final night in Garden Grove, Calif. Nation’s Capital’s Katie Ledecky collected her second award in as many nights with USA Swimming’s Athlete of the Year honor. Meanwhile, Ron Van Pool snared the 2013 USA Swimming Award for his contributions to the sport.<\/p>\n
A night after winner her second straight Performance Award for her world-record swim in the women’s 1500-meter freestyle at the 2013 World Championships, Ledecky topped all-comers for USA Swimming’s Athlete of the Year honor. <\/p>\n
Ledecky had an outstanding meet at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. She captured four gold medals, including world records in the 800 and 1500-meter freestyles. She also won gold in her first international relay as part of the 800-meter freestyle relay after also racing to an American record to win the women’s 400-meter freestyle. Ledecky also collected the FINA Trophy as the top female swimmer of the meet. <\/p>\n
Van Pool, meanwhile, took home the highest honor that USA Swimming doles out in the sport of swimming domestically for most outstanding contribution to the sport. <\/p>\n
Here’s USA Swimming’s recap of his more than three decades of service to the sport:<\/p>\n
Van Pool began his career in USA Swimming as a parent watching his child compete on the local swim team. He became an official and has been a part of USA Swimming for more than 30 years. He served as an official at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and was also the head referee at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Swim Trials. From 2002-2006, Van Pool was the President of USA Swimming.<\/p>\n
Van Pool has served as the USA Swimming representative to the USOC and the National Governing Body Council for over 10 years, and is a member of the USSIC Board of Directors. He is the ex officio member of the USA Swimming Board and is a member of the Safe Sport Committee.<\/p>\n
Here’s a complete list of USA Swimming’s winners from both nights:
\nFemale Open Water Swimmer of the Year: Haley Anderson
\nFran Crippen Memorial Male Swimmer of the Year: Alex Meyer
\nGlen S. Hummer Award: Catherine Vogt
\nAdolph Kiefer Safety Commendation Award: Andrew Appleby
\nTrischa L. Zorn Award: Ian Silverman
\nJames Raymond “Jimi” Flowers Disability Coach of the Year: Brian Loefler
\nOutstanding Service Award (Disability): Mark Rieniets
\nMake a Splash Hero Award: Dia Rianda
\nDiversity Inclusion Award: Martiza Correia McClendon
\nKen Pettigrew Award: Ed Ruth
\nASCA Coach of the Year (Presented at the ASCA Convention): Bruce Gemmell
\nDevelopmental Coach of the Year: David Marsh
\nAthletes’ Appreciation Award: Cathy Durance
\nPhillips66 Performance of the Year Award: Katie Ledecky, 1500m Free — 2013 World Championships
\nUSA Swimming Athlete of the Year: Katie Ledecky
\nUSA Swimming Award: Ron Van Pool<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GARDEN GROVE, California, September 15. USA Swimming closed out the 2013 United States Aquatic Sports Convention with two more awards on the final night in Garden Grove, Calif. Nation’s Capital’s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,24690,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-frontpage","category-usa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n