Women’s swimmer, nursing graduate Baker receives Rock Royer/Mac Rivera award

Hannah Baker, a senior on Liberty University’s women’s swimming & diving team this spring, was recently named the 53rd recipient of the 2020 Rock Royer/Mac Rivera Award. She is the second Liberty swimmer, joining former teammate and 2019 recipient Alicia Finnigan, and the fifth female student-athlete in a row to win the award.

A two-time team captain, Baker helped the Lady Flames capture back-to-back CCSA titles in 2019 and 2020. She swam on nine CCSA-champion relay teams and was a five-time CCSA individual podium finisher.

She is the first swimmer in program history to earn top-three CCSA finishes in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free during her career. During her time at Liberty, the Lady Flames posted a 49-7 dual-meet record, the winningest four-year dual-meet record to date.

This award encompasses more than just athletic ability. It recognizes the graduating senior student-athlete who has maintained an exemplary testimony on the playing field, in the classroom, and among the student body.

Women’s swimming & diving Head Coach Jake Shellenberger noted that twice during her Liberty career, Baker received news that her mom, Cindy Baker, a pioneer as an NCAA Division I swimmer at Penn State, had been diagnosed with cancer, the second time on the eve of the start of this year’s CCSA meet.

“I cannot imagine the strength it took for Hannah to swim through it all, but swim through it she did, placing second in the 200 free, third in the 50 free, and fourth in the 100 free,” Shellenberger said. “Also a member of four winning relays, Hannah certainly led us to those back-to-back titles.”

Academically, Baker, a Fairfax, Va., native who maintained a 3.95 GPA before graduating in May with a B.S. in Nursing, helped the Lady Flames achieve national acclaim, as their 3.79 GPA in Fall 2018 was the highest of any NCAA swimming & diving team in the nation.

Outside of the pool and classroom, Baker has spent many hours helping with community service projects which have helped prepare her for her nursing career.

She is the youngest of four girls, all swimmers. Her father, Bill, played football at Princeton and her older sisters, Sarah, Allison, and Victoria, swam at Penn State, Florida (synchronized swimming), and Grove City, respectively.

“It just really empowered me to want to be a Division I swimmer after seeing all of my sisters participate in college athletics,” Baker said. “They sort of paved the way, especially my mom, for women in athletics and it was an honor to continue that legacy … and to do it at such an amazing university.

“Liberty was a safe haven I thought I wanted but had no idea I needed,” she added. “Liberty gave me a place that I could intertwine my faith, athletics, academics, and service. At Liberty I felt that I was home, a place where those who were my teammates, became friends, and then became family.”

She said Liberty was the only university where she was encouraged to pursue a nursing degree while competing on the NCAA Division I program and thanked her coaches, teammates, professors, and academic advisors for making that possible.

“Liberty gave me a steadfast foundation for my future,” she said. “It was here that I was given the opportunity to pursue both a nursing degree and continue my athletic career in the pool. For me, Liberty will always be remembered as a place of love, of opportunity, and of faith, a place I know that no matter where life takes me, I will have a home and a community to support me, a place I will always be proud to call my alma mater.”

In 1974, the Rock Royer/Mac Rivera Award was established to honor the top senior student-athlete at Liberty University who best exemplifies the standards and lives of both of these great Christian men.

Rock Royer was Liberty’s first football coach in 1973 and Mac Rivera was a member of Liberty’s men’s basketball team from 1972 until 1975. Both died tragically died at young ages.

The award is typically announced at Liberty Athletics’ annual FLAMESPY Award show selection at the end of the spring semester. However, due to the COVID-19 virus and the cancellation of the spring semester, Liberty Athletics was unable to host an in-person celebration of the 2019-20 athletic season with its student-athletes this year.

For a full list of all of the previous Rock Royer/Mac Rivera Award winners, read the story on the Athletics website.