Meagher Awarded Broderick Cup as Top Collegiate Female Athlete

Olympic and All-American swimmer Mary T. Meagher, who holds world records in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly, was awarded the Broderick Cup Tuesday night as the nation’s outstanding collegiate female athlete.

A gold medalist in the 1984 Olympic Games, Meagher lowered the American 100-butterfly record to 54.42 seconds during her senior year at the University of California at Berkeley and won the NCAA 200 butterfly for the fourth time.

Meagher won the Broderick Cup over a field of nine nominees from other sports in year-long voting by NCAA schools.

The award recognizes team contribution, scholastics, school and community involvement as well as athletic achievement.

Meagher, who is in training for the 1988 Olympics, won gold medals in the 100 and 200 butterfly during the 1984 Games and since 1979 has lost only once in those events.

In addition to her victories in the 100 and 200 butterfly, Meagher finished second as a member of the Cal team in the NCAA 800 freestyle relay in 1987, third in the 200 freestyle and the 400-medley relay and fourth in the 400 freestyle relay. She was selected an All-American in all six events.

Other nominees for the Broderick Cup were Katrina McClain, Georgia basketball All-American; Angela Chalmers of Northern Arizona, who holds the collegiate record in the mile run; Jennifer Averill, four-time All-American field hockey player from Northwestern; NCAA golf champion Caroline Keggi of New Mexico; Kelly Garrison-Steves, NCAA gymnastics record-holder from Oklahoma; pitcher Connie Clark, who threw 20 shutouts for the California State-Fullerton softball team; two-time NCAA tennis singles champion Patty Fendick of Stanford; collegiate shot put record-holder Regina Cavanaugh of Rice, and Karen Dahlgren of Nebraska, Big Eight volleyball player of the year.

Past winners of the Broderick Cup, first presented in 1977, include basketball stars Cheryl Miller, Nancy Lieberman and Ann Meyers, track standout Jackie Joyner and Olympic swimmer Tracy Caulkins.