Nicolas Fink, a student in the University of Georgia College of Engineering, is one of three Bulldog swimmers chosen as 2015 recipients of NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, according to an announcement today by the NCAA.
Fink – along with teammates Maddie Locus and Jordan Mattern – will receive a $7,500 Postgraduate Scholarship from the NCAA, which awards 87 to women and 87 to men annually. The Georgia swimming and diving program has produced 34 recipients (26 women, eight men) of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, garnering more than $187,000. Dating back to 1965, Georgia has 73 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients.
“When we sat down with Maddie, Jordan and Nic as freshmen and even before that during the recruiting process, we discussed this as a possible goal, so it’s great to see this come to fruition for them,” Georgia coach Jack Bauerle said. “They all have been spectacular in the classroom and in the pool. They’ve worked really hard to get where they are and I could not be more proud of them for what they’ve accomplished. This is a great honor for them and a great honor for the University of Georgia.”
Nicholas Fink
Fink, a senior from Morristown, N.J., was chosen earlier as the SEC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year for swimming and diving. He has a 3.80 GPA in Agricultural Engineering. Fink earned a Ramsey Scholarship for Academic and Athletic Excellence, won the Joel Eaves Award as the male senior student-athlete with the best grade point average, and was named to the SEC and Georgia academic honor rolls. Fink ended his career as a 19-time All-American, the second-highest total in school history. He won the 100 and 200 breaststroke titles at the SECs, becoming the first Bulldog and the second male in SEC history to win the 100 breaststroke all four years. Fink set school marks in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and ranks second in the 200 individual medley and seventh in the 50 freestyle in Georgia history, plus he helped the 200 and 400 freestyle and 200 and 400 medley relays set school records.
Locus, a senior from Sugarland, Texas, was named recently as the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for all sports. She recorded a 3.93 grade point average and graduated summa cum laude with a double major in Mathematics and Italian. She was named to the SEC and Georgia academic honor rolls this year and she earned UGA’s Women’s Swimming and Diving Scholarship. Locus was invited to UGA’s Number Theory Seminar to present research from the Emory Research Experience for Undergraduates. She won the Outstanding Graduating Senior Italian Major/Minor Award and was chosen as a speaker for the Romance Languages Graduation Ceremony. Locus capped her collegiate swimming career by earning All-America status in the 50 and 100 freestyle and on the 200 and 400 freestyle relays at the NCAAs. She also notched All-SEC recognition with top-5 efforts in those events at the conference meet. Locus holds the third-fastest time in the 50 freestyle, the eighth-fastest time in the 100 freestyle and the ninth-fastest time in the 100 butterfly in school history, plus she led off the 200 freestyle relay that set the Georgia record.
Mattern, a senior from Aurora, Colo., boasts a 3.70 GPA in Biology and Psychology. She was named to the SEC and UGA academic honor rolls, was chosen as the recipient of the Vickie and Leon Farmer Scholarship, was picked for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and was inducted into Georgia’s Leadership Academy. Mattern ended her career seventh in the 200 and 500 freestyle and ninth in the 200 backstroke in school history and she helped the 800 freestyle relay set the Georgia record. She earned All-America and All-SEC recognition this season in the 200 and 500 freestyle and on the 800 freestyle relay.
This is the second straight year that Georgia swimming and diving has produced three recipients. Andrew Gemmell, Laura Ryan and Shannon Vreeland were recognized in 2014.
