Kitty Fischer, a junior from West Chester Univerity, was named the 2014 DII Woman of the Year nominee for swimming & diving as announced by Executive Director Chris Voelz of THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) presented by Honda.

She is now designated one of 11 finalists for the prestigious DII Woman Athlete of the Year honor. This will be voted on at the end of the academic year by national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of THE CWSA program, now in its 38th year.

Fischer, a native of Ulm, Germany, was named the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division II Swimmer of the Year and helped lead the Golden Rams to a fourth-place finish at the 2014 NCAA Championship.

Fischer won national titles in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200 freestyle while finishing second in both breaststroke events. She established a new Division II national record in the 200 IM touching the wall in 1 minute, 59.21 seconds. That was two-tenths of a second faster than her national mark set in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships last month.

"In my short time at West Chester University, the coaching staff, support and guidance from the academic instructors has been tremendous,“ stated Fischer. “Everyone around the campus community and especially the swimming team has made me feel at home. I am grateful and humbled to be this year’s recipient."

"What West Chester had always lacked from becoming one of the elite women’s swimming teams in the country was a sprinter, or even middle distance swimmer, who would take every relay she was on to another level,” said head coach Jamie Rudisill. “We finally found that athlete in Kitty Fischer. Fischer came in, accepted training that was more rigorous than she was accustomed to, and did lifetime best times in every event at the NCAA Division II Championships, including relay splits. She is goal driven, bright, articulate in six languages, and unexpectedly modest. And she finishes races better than anyone I have coached in over 30 years.“

All sports nominees from DII and DIII become a finalist for the prestigious 2014 CWSA Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year in their respective divisions, presented in June. The sports nominees are recognized in 11 DIII and DII NCAA-sanctioned sports; cross country, basketball, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer,softball, swimming & diving, tennis, volleyball, and track & field.

This is the second DII sport nominee from West Chester this year after Kelsi Lykens (Mohrsville, Pa.) was named the DII Woman of the Year nominee for field hockey.

THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards has honored the nation’s top NCAA women athletes for 37 years, recognizing superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service. Since commencing its sponsorship in 1986, Honda has provided more than $2.7 million in institutional grants to the universities of the award winners and nominees to support women’s athletics programs at the institutions.