WALNUT CREEK, Calif.-- Stanford senior Julia Smit (Mt. Sinai, NY) was named the Pacific 10 Conference's December Athlete of the Month following her two world records at the Duel in the Pool in Manchester, England last month.
Smit was also named the conference's November athlete of the month, giving the All-American swimmer four such honors over her career, tying her with Olympic teammate Rebecca Soni of USC (2006-09), for the all-time conference record.
Two more awards remain this season, as the Cardinal, currently ranked No. 2, look for their 10th national title in March.
Smit over a two-day span in December broke two world record short course records in the individual medleys. Smit's time of 2:04.60 in the 200-meter IM, broke the nine day old record of Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto (2:04.64), set on December 10 at the Shortcourse Championships in Turkey. The mark also broke America's 16-year old record by Allison Wagner (2:07.79) in 1993.
A day earlier, Smit's time of 4:21.04 in the 400-meter IM broke Kathryn Meaklim's mark of 4:22.88, set in Singapore earlier in 2009 at the World Cup. The mark also broke her own U.S. record, previously set in Toronto in 2008, at 4:25.87.
Smit owns five individual school records at Stanford is the defending NCAA Champion in both the 200 and 400-yard individual medleys.