Former University of Georgia swimming star Lisa Coole, the 1997 NCAA Woman of the Year, was killed Saturday in an automobile accident in Champaign, Ill.

Coole a native of Rockford, Ill., had just completed her first year in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.

In January, she received the NCAA Today's Top VIII Award, an honor annually given to eight outstanding student-athletes based on athletic ability and achievement, academic achievement, character, leadership and activities.

Coole earned 19 NCAA All-American honors at Georgia and was a two-time NCAA champion having won the 100-yard butterfly in 1996 and was a member of the winning 200y freestyle relay in 1995.

More info can be found at US Swimming, the University of Georgia and the Athens, Ga., newspaper.