Madelyn Moore “freaked out” when she received the wonderful news that she had been named as the Western Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Year.

“My head coach [Lisa Ebeling] called me as I was actually starting my weightlifting practice,” she said. “She called my weights coach [Cheyenne Verna] and she was like ’you got swimmer of the year’, so we all kind of freaked out for a little bit, which was awesome.”

The prestigious award capped a dominant season which saw the University of Northern Colorado junior secure multiple gold medals and records competing for her university.

“It was something that I kind of been having my eye on for the past three years now, I guess,” Moore said. “It’s awesome that in my junior year that it happened, so it’s a big deal for me. This is definitely up there. It’s probably in the top three.”

Moore added: “I don’t think anyone at UNC in the swimming/diving programme has actually gotten Swimmer of the Year. I know we’ve had people get Freshman of the Year, but I think this is a first Swimmer of the Year, which I’m really proud of and honoured to have been named WAC Swimmer of the Year.”

Moore stamped her authority at the WAC Championships at Dixie State University in Utah last month, when she won gold medals in the 50 metres freestyle and 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay and also broke her school’s record in the 100 backstroke twice during the same session.

“I went into this meet just looking to have a good time, cheer on the freshmen and try and get the team rallied and excited about what we were going to do at that meet,” she said. “We had such a great team environment, which just made it so much more fun.

“It wasn’t just about each individual swim. It was everyone getting behind every other person’s swim in the meet, which was just awesome to see.”

Moore now holds the pool records in the 50 and 100 freestyle at Dixie State, while her time of 48.04 in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay was the fastest split in the WAC in the past decade.

“It was a personal-best time for me but unfortunately it doesn’t count as my official time just because I went off a relay takeover,” she said. “But my PB in an individual race is 49.3 and I took almost a whole second off of that, which was pretty amazing.”

Moore also thrived competing at January’s Air Force Quad Meet hosted by the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, where she won gold in the 50 and 100 freestyle to help her university clinch state honours.

It was an outstanding display that led to the 20-year-old, who owns individual school records in the 50 freestyle (23.00), 100 freestyle (50.14) and 100 backstroke (54.10) as well as multiple relay records, being named as the WAC Swimmer of the Week. Her time in the 100 backstroke is also a personal best.

“Considering the trying season that everybody has gone through, it’s been really exciting to have Maddy be able to hit the performances that she has been able to do for her university over this last season,” Ben Smith, the national coach, said.

“The performances that she had on their championship competition that led to her getting the two gold medals and breaking school records, you can understand why she would be their athlete of the year.

“We couldn’t be more proud of her, and we’re excited to see what she is able to do next.”