College Aquatic Athletes of the Week Roundup: Swimmers, Divers Ramp Up Competition

PHOENIX, Arizona, October 15. MORE NCAA Division I conferences are getting into the swing of naming the top swimmers and divers of the week, and we present the list of those who received big news today.

Atlantic 10 Conference
Men’s Performer of the Week: Viacheslav Shchukin, St. Bonaventure
The sophomore from Russia won the 100 free at the WNY Invite last weekend with a 44.34 to put him in the top five in Division I competition so far this season. That time is just four tenths off what he swam at the Atlantic 10 conference last season to win as a freshman.

Women’s Performer of the Week: Michaela Butler, Massachusetts
The senior diver won both events at the dual meet against Boston University, the first time UMass has beaten their crosstown rival in eight years. In helping the team take the meet win, Butler broke the school record in the 1-meter competition with 336.23 and won the 3-meter event with 339.23 points.

Atlantic Coast Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Connor Knight, Florida State
Knight was a key player in helping the Seminoles beat Alabama in dual-meet action last weekend. Knight, a junior, won both butterfly events by large margins. His 1:47.43 in the 200 fly was the fastest by three seconds, and he won the 100 fly by two seconds with a 48.13.

“He’s a solid performer,” Florida State head coach Frank Bradley said of Knight after the meet. “He has the talent to be in that top end of swimmers in the country and he’s starting to take hold of things with closing with the 200 and changing his turns. He’s buying into the system and I’m happy to see that come together today.”

Female Swimmer of the Week: Emma Reaney, Notre Dame
The 2013 NCAA finalist started her season with a 1:00.94 in the 100 breast in the tri-meet against Indiana and Auburn, one of the top three times so far in the national collegiate ranks this season. Reaney showed her diversity with a win in the 100 fly (55.03) and also was second in the 200 free (1:50.40).

Male Diver of the Week: Tom Neubacher, Florida State
Neubacher swept the diving events last weekend in the dual meet against Alabama, leading a 1-2-3 sweep in the 3-meter with 372.95 points and a 1-2 finish on the 1-meter board with 347.10 points.

Female Diver of the Week: Kara McCormack, Miami
McCormack also completed a sweep of diving last weekend, winning both springboard events at the dual meet against Florida Gulf Coast. Though Miami was unable to beat FGCU in the overall point totals, McCormack’s double wins were a highlight for the team.

Big Ten conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: John Wojciechowski, Michigan
It must not have been easy to pick the top male swimmer in the Big Ten conference, especially since Michigan performed so well over the weekend in the tri-meet with Notre Dame and Auburn. Wojciechowski, who’s called “Wojo” for short, was deemed the best in the conference based on his wins in the 100 fly (48.24) and 100 back (48.59), as well as his work on both winning relays.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Ali DeLoof, Michigan
DeLoof, a sophomore, won the 100 back (54.54) at the dual meet against Minnesota on Saturday, as well as a win in the 200 medley relay. She also was second in the 400 free relay and third in the 100 free (51.75). DeLoof was the Female Swimmer of the Week just two weeks ago for the Big Ten.

Male Diver of the Week: Darian Schmidt, Indiana
Taking down an Olympic medalist and reigning NCAA champion has to be a major source of pride, even if it’s done in the beginning of the season. That’s what Indiana senior Schmidt did in the Hoosiers’ dual meet against Stanford on Saturday. He beat Stanford’s Kristian Ipsen on the 3-meter (Ipsen’s favored board) and was second on the 1-meter. He also swept the diving events the day before in the dual against California.

Female Diver of the Week: Sarah McCrady, Minnesota
In the dual meet against Michigan, McCready helped the Gophers take the overall win by placing first on the 3-meter springboard and fourth on the 1-meter.

Male Freshman of the Week: Steffen Hillmer, Ohio State
Hillmer opened up the season for the Buckeyes with a win with his teammates in the 400 free relay against Kentucky, and also placed second in the 200 free with a 1:41.15.

Female Freshman of the Week: Amy Bopp, Ohio State
Bopp’s first college dual meet brought her a sweep of the breaststroke events against Kentucky. She won the 100 breast with a 1:04.23 and the 200 breast with a 2:18.05.

Conference USA
Female Swimmer of the Week: Casey Clark, Rice
Though the Owls were defeated handily by Texas over the weekend, Clark was the standout swimmer for Rice as she placed second in the 200 free with a 1:49.27 (three tenths away from first) and got the first-place points in the 100 fly with a 55.52 after Texas put its swimmers in exhibition status for that race.

Female Diver of the Week: Lauren Arnold, Tulane
Arnold was on the diving boards a lot over the weekend, competing in the tri-meet on Friday against West Florida and Florida State and against Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday. She was unable to post any wins in the tri-meet, but rebounded with a double victory in the 1-meter and 3-meter on Saturday. Her 1-meter score of 284.92 knocked on the door of breaking the school record and, according to information from C-USA, made her the first diver in conference history to qualify for the NCAA zone diving meet in March.

Patriot League:
Male Swimmer of the Week: Austin Dickey, Boston University
The first collegiate meet for Austin Dickey was, by all counts, a successful one. Not only did he win the 100 breast in the dual meet against Massachusetts with a 55.62, but he got within .48 of the school record. To make it even better, the Rockville Montgomery veteran posted a lifetime best in the event, with a 55.75 listed in the USA Swimming database as his best time from last February.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Caitlin Cronin, Loyola Maryland
Cronin was busy in last weekend’s quad meet against American, Catholic and George Washington. She won the 50 free (25.01) and 100 free (53.39) while also placing second in the 200 free with a 1:54.83 and second in the 200 IM with a 2:11.31. Add to that a fourth-place finish in the 100 fly, and Cronin was likely a very tired senior when the meet was over.

Male Diver of the Week: Michael Brown, Loyola Maryland
The Loyola senior won the 1-meter diving event and placed second in the 3-meter competition in last weekend’s quad meet.

Female Diver of the Week: Elle Mixa, Loyola Maryland
Like her teammate Michael Brown, Mixa also won the 1-meter springboard event and placed second in the 3-meter diving event.

Southeastern Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Marcelo Chierighini, Auburn
The Brazilian senior is primed to win the 50 and 100 freestyles at the NCAA championships, and he put himself in that frontrunner position with a 19.33 in the 50 free in last weekend’s tri-meet with Notre Dame and Michigan. He also posted a 44.09 in the 100 free that puts him a close second in the collegiate rankings.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Christina Bechtel, Kentucky
After her first dual meet of the season, Bechtel has the second-fastest time in the nation in the 100 fly, thanks to the 54.34 she posted in the meet against Ohio State. Bechtel also won the 200 fly with a 2:00.75, good enough to put her in the top five in the early goings of the season.

Male Diver of the Week: Greg Ferrucci, Kentucky
Ferrucci is an NCAA finalist and will likely contend for more hardware in his senior season. In the dual meet against Ohio State, Ferrucci won both boards, accounting for two of Kentucky’s wins in the meet.

Female Diver of the Week: Patricia Kranz, South Carolina
Kranz fell short of her best score of her career in the 3-meter springboard event, earning 369.23 points to win the competition in the meet against College of Charleston and about 25 points away from the school record.

Male Freshman of the Week: Mitch D’Arrigo, Florida
With very little short course yards racing under his belt, D’Arrigo has nowhere to go but up in his freshman season with the Gators. He posted what is a lifetime best in every event at the All-Florida Invite a few weeks ago, and showed remarkable consistency with a win in the 500 free (4:26.35) on Saturday in the dual meet against Minnesota. Showing how deep Florida’s 200 free talent is, D’Arrigo’s 1:39.17 placed third in that meet behind two teammates.

Female Freshman of the Week: Allyx Purcell, Auburn
The Aussie won both sprint freestyles over the weekend in the tri-meet against Notre Dame and Indiana. Since she’s not accustomed to short course yards racing, her times of 22.87 and 50.30 might seem strange to her, but are remarkable in her yards debut.

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