INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The NCAA Honors Committee has announced that former Auburn swimmer Matt Busbee has been awarded the prestigious NCAA Today's Top VIII Award, which is given to eight student-athletes from the preceding calendar year for achievement in athletics, academics, character and leadership.

"We're very proud of Matt," said Auburn athletics director David Housel. "He epitomizes all the best of Auburn and all the best of the NCAA. He was a model student-athlete who excelled in the classroom and in the pool, helping Auburn win two national titles. He represents everything that intercollegiate athletics is about."

Busbee will be honored during the NCAA Convention in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, January 7 at the Honors Dinner along with the seven other recipients.

The Mobile, Ala., native was selected for the award along with Drew Brees, (football, Purdue University), Alia Fischer (basketball, Washington University), Andrea M. Garner (basketball, Penn State University), Kristy Kowal (swimming, University of Georgia), Kevin M. Listerman (basketball, Northern Kentucky University), Amanda Scott (softball, California State University, Fresno) and Josh Sims (lacrosse, Princeton University).

"I am really excited about the positive publicity this award brings to Auburn and the swim program," said Busbee. "I don't consider myself to be at this level and to receive this award is a great honor."

Busbee is a three-time Division I national champion in the 200-yard freestyle relay and helped set the world's-best time in the 200-meter free relay at the 2000 NCAA Championships. He was one of 10 finalists for the Amateur Athletic Union's James E. Sullivan Award, which recognizes the top amateur athlete in the nation based on leadership, character, sportsmanship and ideals of amateurism.

In 1997 and 1999, Busbee helped lead Auburn to a national championship as well as runner-up finishes in 1998 and 2000. He is a nine-time All-American and has won six individual Southeastern Conference titles.

Busbee was awarded the NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship and he was the recipient of Auburn's Cliff Hare Award, which is the highest honor an AU student-athlete can receive. He graduated from Auburn summa cum laude in May 2000 and is currently enrolled at UAB in medical school.

Busbee participated in the President's Student Leadership Program and was a member of Athletes in Action. He also has donated his time as a volunteer at the East Alabama Medical Center, Camp Smile-A-Mile, the Dixie Wheelchair Games and Habitat for Humanity.

"Matt's accomplishments as a student and an athlete go well beyond the honors that even a Heisman trophy award winner receives," said Auburn head swimming and diving coach David Marsh. "The Auburn family is proud of all his accomplishments, but most exciting for Matt is that his best is still yet to come."

The NCAA Honors Committee, comprised of eight athletics administrators at member institutions and nationally distinguished citizens who are former student-athletes, selects the Top VIII Award honorees. The members of the NCAA Honors Committee are: Harry Carson (president, Harry Carson, Inc.), Eugene F. Corrigan (commissioner emeritus, Atlantic Coast Conference), Joseph Crowley (president, University of Nevada), Doug Echol (commissioner, South Atlantic Conference), Jack Ford (ABC news anchor, 20/20), Valerie Richardson (assistant commissioner, West Coast Conference), Kathryn Springsteen (chair of the natural sciences department, Colby-Sawyer College) and Robert A. Steitz (associate commissioner, Atlantic 10 Conference).