Student-Athlete of the Week - March 2, 2009

Name: Heather Denman
Sport: Women's Swimming
Year: Freshman
Events: Backstroke, Butterfly

Heather Denman has been named the Spartan Foundation Athlete of the Week for her performance at the 2009 Western Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championship last week.

The first Spartan to earn Freshman of the Year distinction, awarded by league head coaches, Denman swam to two gold medals at the four-day meet at the Palo Alto College Natatorium in San Antonio, Texas, sweeping the backstroke events and becoming just the second swimmer in program history, after 2008 graduate and four-time champion Brie Marhenke, to win individual gold at a WAC meet.

Denman won the 100 back on the third night in a school-record and NCAA 'B' cut time of 53.99, by over a full second ahead of senior teammate Lauren Mar in second-place. She had already eclipsed her own school standard in the event in morning prelims, in 54.57.

She then won the 200 back on the final night of the championship, becoming the first Spartan ever to get under the two-minute mark in the event, at 1:59.58. She had already broken the school mark in morning prelims, going 2:01.01 to take back the standard moments after senior teammate Katey Nelson had leapt over her for the top spot on the chart with a time of 2:01.48. Denman out-touched Nelson for first by just over a second in the championship final, as the Spartans went 1-2 in both backstroke events.

On the meet's opening night, Denman swam the 50-yard butterfly third leg of the second-place 200 medley relay, which shattered the previous school record from the 2008 WAC Championship, of 1:44.18, by timing 1:41.28. It served as the first known NCAA consideration qualifier ever by a Spartan relay.

On the third night, the 400 medley relay was even more impressive, with Denman taking the 100-yard fly third leg, and the Spartan foursome shaving over six seconds off the program standard, from 3:48.80 down to 3:42.50, easily good enough for yet another NCAA 'B' cut, by just over two seconds. Like in the 200 medley relay, San Jose State finished as the runner-up behind third-time WAC team champion Nevada's group.

Denman also posted a school-record and NCAA 'B' cut mark of 53.70 in the championship final of the 100 butterfly, placing third.

For the meet, Denman was part of seven school-record and five NCAA consideration qualifying swims. She is now a three-time first-team and two-time second-team All-WAC performer, with two gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal. With her 56 points from her three events at the 2009 meet, Denman broke Marhenke's program record (54) for the most individual points scored at a single WAC Championship. She also aided in 68 relay points toward the team total.

Past 2008-09 Spartan Foundation Student-Athletes of the Week
August 25 - Emmy Belding, Women's Soccer
September 2 - Kyle Reed, Football
September 8 - Emily Burke, Volleyball
September 15 - Erica Moston, Women's Golf
September 22 - Hiroki Akiyama, Men's Soccer
September 29 - Jared Strubeck, Football
October 6 - Kelly Crow, Volleyball
October 13 - Heather Denman, Women's Swimming
October 20 - Carl Ihenacho, Football
October 27 - Jay Myers, Men's Golf
November 3 - Jared Strubeck, Football
November 10 - Nick Cukar, Men's Soccer
November 17 - Ricky Dorrego, Men's Soccer
November 24 - Heather Denman, Women's Swimming
December 1 - Natalie White, Women's Basketball
December 8 - Heather Denman, Women's Swimming
December 15 - Tim Pierce, Men's Basketball
December 22 - Tim Pierce, Men's Basketball
December 29 - C.J. Webster, Men's Basketball
January 5 - Lauren Mar, Women's Swimming
January 12 - Natalie White, Women's Basketball
January 20 - Thomasina Wallace, Women's Gymnastics
January 26 - Adrian Oliver, Men's Basketball
February 2 - Thomasina Wallace, Women's Gymnastics
February 9 - Dani Curran, Women's Water Polo
February 16 - Jay Myers, Men's Golf
February 23 - Veronica Porte, Women's Gymnastics
March 2 - Heather Denman, Women's Swimming