April 9, 2012

BERKELEY - Caitlin Leverenz, California's highly decorated junior swimmer, is in the running for another accolade - the U.S. Sports Academy's March 2012 Female Athlete of the Month. Determined by online voting, the award would laud the All-American for leading the Golden Bears to the NCAA championship and for her success the rest of the month.

Fans can vote for Leverenz here. The poll, in which fans can vote multiple times, ends tomorrow.

Named the CSCAA Swimmer of the Meet at the NCAA Championships, Leverenz claimed the Honda Sports Award for Swimming on March 27 for her stellar performances at the national meet. From March 29-31, she competed in the Indianapolis Grand Prix

Leverenz scored 57 points to tie for the most points by a student-athlete at NCAAs. In all she posted three American and three NCAA records, as she captured the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yardbreaststroke, swam on the victorious 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay, and took All-America honors in the 400 IM.

At NCAAs, which took place in Auburn, Ala., from March 15-17, Leverenz set American, U.S. Open, NCAA, Pac-12, school and pool records with her victorious time of 1:51.77 in the 200 IM. She also swam a school- and pool-record time of 2:04.76 to win the 200 breaststroke and placed second in the 400 IM with an American- and school-record time of 3:57.89. Leverenz swam the breaststroke leg of Cal's winning 200-medley relay as the Bears posted American, U.S. Open, NCAA, Pac-12, school and pool records with its time of 1:34.24. She also swam the breaststroke leg of the Bears' winning 400-medley relay, which posted U.S. Open, NCAA, Pac-12, school and pool records with its time of 3:28.10.

At the March 29-31 Indianapolis Grand Prix, Leverenz won the 200-meter IM (Olympic Trials-qualifying time of 2:09.71), finished second in the 400 IM (4:36.46, OT qualifier), also took second in the 200 breaststroke (2:25.63, OT qualifier) and placed fourth in the 200 butterfly (2:11.73, OT qualifier).