Sophomore at the University of Victoria, and Kelowna native, Josh Zakala has been named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America College Division Men’s and Women’s At-Large Teams.
The second-year swimmer for the Vikes was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America for maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA in his studies to be a civil engineer while being a top athlete.
Related: Kelowna swimmer picks up gold and silver at Commonwealth Games
Zakala has earned a silver medal in the 400 individual medley in Toronto this Feb. at the 2018 U Sports swimming championships and in Nov. he won bronze in the 1500 metres freestyle and 400 metres freestyle at the 2017-2018 Canada West championship.
“I am in a really demanding school program, I don’t have a lot of free time. On weekends I might hang out with a friend but during the week I need to focus on eating well and staying hydrated so I don’t get sick,” Zakala said. “I have been a student and an athlete my whole life.”
The swimmer who trains at the Commonwealth Pool says the secret to his success is his dedication, when he is in class he ensures he is focused and paying attention so that he doesn’t have more work outside of class. He does the same when it comes to his training.
Related: Kelowna swimmer wins eighth medal at Commonwealth Games
Looking to the future Zakala will be returning to Kelowna, training at the H2O Adventure and Fitness Centre while he completes a four month work term training program with the City of Kelowna staff.
“I am excited to come back and do something that is going to be applicable to my degree,” Zakala said. “I told my old team mates when I found out I got the job and they were all really excited that I will be returning to my home club.”
The former AquaJets star will return to Kelowna later this month.
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