College freshmen, no matter the sport, are not supposed to win team Most Valuable Player honors.

But don't tell that to Cortney Barry, a Reservoir High School graduate.

Barry won that exact honor last season as a freshman at the University of Delaware, a Division I member of the Colonial Athletic Association.

"We don't get too many of those," said Delaware head coach John Hayman, who added it was just the third time in about 25 years as a college coach that a freshman was his team MVP.

So did Barry get some ribbing from upperclassmen?

"Maybe behind my back," she said, with a laugh. "I really wasn't going into school thinking I would do as well as I did."

During an eventful freshman year, Barry was also quoted by The New York Times on a special story on athletic scholarships for college athletes who do not play big-time sports such as football and basketball.

"I was the only swimmer that was interviewed from my school," she said. "We didn't know when the article was going to come out. It came out (in March) about five months after the interview." Barry said one of her mother's cousins, who lives in New York, called the Barry family when the story appeared.

Barry began swimming with the summer team at Patuxent Greens when she was about 6 and her family lived in Prince George's County. She began swimming year-round when she was about 11 when she joined the Fairland Aquatics Swim Team in West Laurel.

Her family moved to Howard County after her second grade year and she attended Hammond Elementary and Hammond Middle School before entering Reservoir. She had a grade-point average of about 3.8 in high school.

Barry made official visits to East Carolina, North Carolina-Wilmington and Duquesne, but settled on Delaware after a trip there.

"I like the coaches a lot," said Barry, a marketing major who is on a partial athletic scholarship. "When I went on my tour I really loved the campus. I felt very comfortable."

She was also very comfortable in the water for the Blue Hens, even though she experienced back problems after weight training last fall.

Barry became just the second University of Delaware female swimmer to reach the NCAA "B" standard with a time of 16:46.33 in the 1,650 freestyle as she took third in the event in the CAA championships in February. She was also seventh in the 800 freestyle relay, 11th in the 500 freestyle and 13th in the 200 freestyle. Barry helped Delaware win 12 dual meets (one shy of the school record), gained honorable mention Mid-Major All-American honors by CollegeSwimming.com and was named to the all-CAA team.

Hayman, about to enter his 20th season at Delaware, expected Barry to excel in the shorter events. But he was shocked when Barry improved her time by some 30 seconds in the 1,650 freestyle from the start of her freshman season.

"The mile was a mind-breaking time," he said.

This summer Barry has been training two hours weekday mornings at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Her goal is to qualify for the NCAA swim meet before her college career is done.

"It is a very lofty goal," Hayman said. "There are not many slots open in the mile."

Barry also said she wants to provide more leadership at Delaware, where the program expects about 10 freshmen female swimmers this season. And if she wins the MVP award again, she won't have to worry about some kidding from the newcomers.

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