Kansas University swimmer Amy Gruber has been tapped for two prestigious awards.

Gruber, a senior from Bigelow, Ark., was named Big 12 Conference swimmer of the month by league coaches, and she was chosen national collegiate swimmer of the week by CollegeSwimming.com.

Gruber

Gruber became the first Jayhawk to earn the national honor on the strength of her performance at the Nike Cup last week in Chapel Hill, N.C.

“I didn’t expect this,” Gruber said. “This is a huge honor. I’m very excited about it. This definitely helps the team and shows how well we swam at the Nike Cup.”

In that meet, Gruber won the 100 freestyle in 49.70, the sixth-fastest time in the nation this year and an NCAA ‘A’ standard time. She also posted three second-place finishes — in the 50 freestyle, the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke.

Gruber also swam a leg in two of KU’s relays at the Nike Cup. The 200 medley relay quartet won with a time of 1:43.33. The 200 freestyle (1:34.06), the 400 freestyle (3:24.47) and the 400 medley (3:46.60) relay teams each finished second. The 800 freestyle relay finished third (7:27.09).

“Amy’s performance was very special,” KU coach Clark Campbell said. “Achieving an NCAA ‘A’ standard time was a first for the Jayhawks.”

Big 12 coaches singled out Gruber for her Nike Cup performance and for her showing in the Jayhawks’ 185-115 dual victory Nov. 6 against Illinois. In that meet, Gruber recorded three firsts and a second in individual events.

Next action for the Jayhawks will be duals against Houston and Harvard Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 at Robinson Natatorium.