Georgia junior Brittany MacLean has been chosen as the 2014 OMEGA Female Swimmer of the Year, according to an announcement by Swimming Canada.
The award recognizes the best performance by a Canadian swimmer at the premier international meets of the year.
MacLean, a native of Etobicoke, Ontario, claimed five medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships. She earned a silver on the 800-meter freestyle relay and a bronze in the 800-meter freestyle at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland, then picked up three bronzes in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle and on the 800-meter freestyle relay at the Pan Pacs in Australia.
Already the Canadian record-holder in the 400-meter freestyle, MacLean added national standards in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle during the summer circuit.
MacLean was the NCAA Swimmer of the Meet after winning the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle at the national meet and leading the Lady Bulldogs to their second straight team title. She was chosen as the SEC Swimmer of the Year after sweeping the same races and helping Georgia claim its fifth consecutive team crown at the conference meet.
“NCAAs was pretty much the meet of my life, then doing well at Canadian Trials, breaking some Canadian records in the summer and winning my first set of international medals, I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” MacLean said. “It’s definitely exciting and I got to travel the world and cheer on all my teammates. … It was exciting, pretty much from start to finish. 2013 was a little bit of a transition year with injury and kind of getting adjusted to life at school. This past year, I felt like I had a lot to prove and I really wanted to do well for my team back in Georgia because they had supported me so much when I wasn’t doing so great. It started at the beginning of the year with a lot of hard work and preparation. When I started doing well, I kind of flowed off the confidence of my previous performances.”
MacLean and her Georgia teammates will return to action Friday through Sunday in the UGA Fall Invitational at Gabrielsen Natatorium. Prelims will begin daily at 9:30 a.m., with finals on Friday and Saturday at 5 p.m. and on Sunday at 3 p.m. There is no cost for admission.
