Former Chapel Hill High School swimmer Kerry McLaughlin made her mark while swimming with the Clemson University varsity last year.

A Phi Beta Kappa Tiger, McLaughlin was named last week as Clemson’s top female scholar-athlete.

Each year the Atlantic Coast Conference honors the top male and top female scholar athletes from each league institution.

The winners from Clemson for the 2011-12 Academic Year were McLaughlin and football player Dawson Zimmerman.

McLaughlin graduated summa cum laude in May with a degree in biological sciences and a minor in Spanish.

McLaughlin has been named to the President’s List for the past six semesters and is a four-time member of the ACC Honor Roll.

She plans to enroll in the Physical Therapy graduate program at Duke University in the fall.

McLaughlin also was active in community service through her participation in the Solid Orange Squad with local elementary school students to implement a character education program.

In high school, McLaughlin earned Academic All-American status three times. She was All-PAC Conference four times in swimming and twice in tennis.

She was part of the Tigers’ NCHSAA stat champion 200 medley relay and 400 free relay teams, earning national High School All-American status in both events.

McLaughlin capped her high school athletic career by being named Chapel Hill High’s Wendy’s High School Heisman Award winner.

Chapel Hill High School never lost a Piedmont Athletic Conference meet during McLaughlin’s time at CHHS.

McLaughlin and Zimmerman are scheduled to receive their ACC awards during the Clemson-Georgia Tech football game on Oct. 6.

At Clemson, Zimmerman also was inducted into Clemson’s chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society and graduated summa cum laude in December 2011 with a degree in English and a minor in Creative Writing.

On the field, Zimmerman was Clemson’s top punter the last three years, including 2011 when he helped the Tigers to the ACC Championship. He was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award in 2010.

The top scholar-athletes for 2011 at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill were fencer Kevin Nadeau and women’s soccer player Adelaide Gay.

They have the top GPAs, respectively, of all male and female student-athletes at UNC, and both were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.