June 21, 2000
LAS VEGAS -
Women's tennis star Katarina Malec and men's swimming standout Jacint Simon have been named their school's sportswoman and sportsman of the year, respectively, the UNLV Women's Sports Foundation announced Wednesday.
"The quality of the nominees for both awards was truly outstanding, which made this year's selection extremely difficult," said UNLV associate athletics director Lisa Kelleher, who is a liasion to the WSF Board of Directors, which voted on the honors. "We commend all the nominees on such a stunning amount of success. Katarina and Jacint, as well as everyone nominated, are truly a great reflection of our athletics at UNLV."
Malec is the second tennis player to win the UNLV Sportswoman of the Year Award after Marianne Vallin was honored in both 1996 & '97. A senior from Warsaw, Poland, Malec turned in the greatest season in UNLV women's tennis history. The Mountain West Conference Player of the Year led her team to its first-ever league title and broke seven major school records this spring, including most single-season victories (39), most consecutive victories (19) and highest winning percentage for a season and career.
Finishing 17-3 vs. ranked opponents, she went on to earn All-America honors by staging a memorable run through the NCAA Championships in Malibu, Calif., last month. Malec won four matches to move into the final four of college tennis before falling in the semifinals to the nation's top-ranked player. Malec also reached the round of 16 in doubles while playing with partner Marianne Bakken.
Simon, the 2000 Olympic Sportsman of the Year, was the MWC Swimmer of the Year, UNLV Swimmer of the Year, a three-time conference champion (200, 500-freestyle and 200-butterfly), and became the first Rebel swimmer to reach All-America status in three events in one year at the NCAA Championships in March. He set individual school records in the 200, 500, and 1,000-freestyle and anchored the 400-freestyle relay team that set another.
The sophomore helped lead UNLV to a second-place finish at the Mountain West Conference Championships and to a 25th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Simon will swim for the Hungarian National Team at the Sydney 2000 Olympics in the 800-freestyle relay and the 200-freestyle.
Malec emerged from the deepest group of women's nominees since the award was founded in 1990. Other candidates were track and field's Michele Davis, who earned All-America status in two NCAA sprint events, last year's winner Linda Fr?lich, who was the MWC Women's Basketball Player of the Year and AP Honorable Mention All-America, and Lorena Diaconescu, the MWC Swimmer of the Year who earned All-America status at the NCAA Championships and will appear in her second Olympics this fall for her home country of Romania.
Simon was the second swimmer to win the honor after Erik Scalise was named in 1997. This season's other men's nominee was 1999 winner Jeremy Anderson. The 2000 MWC Golfer of the Year was a First Team All-American who left as his school's career leader in stroke average and finished ranked fifth nationally.
