Rachel Moody, Christian McCurdy Pace National Swimmers of the Week Honors

CARTHAGE, Wisconsin, February 5. THIS week, CollegeSwimming.com named its National Swimmers of the Week with Rice’s Rachel Moody and NC State’s Christian McCurdy taking top honors at the NCAA Division I level.

Special thanks to CollegeSwimming.com for providing the following press release announcing the winners across all the divisions.

Division I Women
Rachel Moody, a Rice University Senior from Houston, Texas is the Philip Hunsaker CollegeSwimming.com Women’s Division I and Conference USA Swimmer of the Week. Moody won two individual events and swam on a winning Owl relay in a two-day, four-way dual meet against nationally-ranked LSU, C-USA foe Tulane and cross-town rival Houston. Moody set the Rice school record in the 100-yard breaststroke with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:01.71, the second-fastest time in C-USA this season. She earned top honors in the 200-yard breaststroke with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 2:15.27, also the league’s second-fastest mark of the year. The Houston native swam the breaststroke leg on the Owls’ winning 400-medley relay that posted a final time of 3:46.77.

Division I Men
Winning the Philip Hunsaker CollegeSwimming.com Men’s Division I swimmer of the week is NC State Sophomore Christian McCurdy (Irwin, PA). Swimming at home against ACC foe UVA on Senior night, McCurdy posted dominating wins in the 200 fly (1:45.74) and 400 IM (3:50.58). The former NCAA qualifier and all ACC swimmer won both of his races by more than 3 seconds, helping the Wolfpack narrowly defeat the Cavaliers 157-141.

Division II Women
Senior Julie Brown (York, PA) of the Shippensburg University women’s swimming team was named the PSAC Women’s Swimming Athlete of the Week, and the CollegeSwimming.com Women’s Division II Swimmer of the Week for the first time in her prestigious career on Tuesday afternoon after a strong performance this past Saturday at Navy’s All Comers Invitational. Brown won the 50-yard freestyle, besting swimmers from the likes of Division I programs such as Seton Hall, Navy, Bucknell and Loyola. Brown posted a NCAA ‘B’ cut and season-PR time of 23.57 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle. She is the reigning PSAC Champion in the event and ranks second on the season’s conference charts heading into the PSAC Championships. Brown also finished fifth on Saturday in the 100-yard breaststroke – an event she seldom swims – with a season PR of 1:08.95 that puts her in the conference’s Top 20 for the event. Also on Saturday, Brown swam on the 200-yard freestyle relay team that finished third in 1:38.85, beating Loyola, Seton Hall and Lafayette, and the 200-yard medley relay.

Division II Men
Delta State Freshman Matteo Fraschi (Scandicci, Florence, Italy), posted three impressive individual wins and added a relay win against Birmingham Southern, Lagrange and Thomas in action this past weekend. Fraschi placed first in the 100 breast (56.87), 200 breast (2:02.77), and 200 IM (1:53.05), achieving a new school record in the 200 breaststroke in the process. His performance has earned him the Philip Hunsaker CollegeSwimming.com Men’s Division II Swimmer of the Week.

Division III Women
Kenyon College sophomore Katie Kastner (Anacortes, WA) is the Philip Hunsaker CollegeSwimming.com Women’s Division III Swimmer of the Week. For the second time this season, Kaestner was voted the North Coast Athletic Conference’s Swimmer of the Week. Her selection was based on her performances in the Ladies’ dual-meet victories over Ohio Wesleyan University and Wittenberg University. Against Ohio Wesleyan on Friday, Kaestner won the 50-yard freestyle (24.32) and swam legs on the winning 400-yard medley relay (3:55.04) and 400-yard freestyle relay (3:33.46). The next day, against Wittenberg, she touched first in the 100-yard butterfly (59.93) and swam legs on the winning 200-yard medley relay (1:48.5) and 200-yard freestyle relay (1:38.89). A breaststroke specialist, Kaestner currently owns NCAA Division III’s fastest time in the 100-yard event (1:02.77) and the third-fastest time in the 200-yard event (2:17.59).

Division III Men
Westminster College junior swimmer Steven Brooks (Boardman, Ohio / Boardman) is the Philip Hunsaker CollegeSwimming.com Men’s Division III Swimmer of the Week and was also named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Men’s Swimmer/Diver of the Week for the week of Feb. 3. Brooks helped guide the Titans to a pair of dual-meet victories last week. In the Titans’ 156-141 PAC victory against Grove City on Jan. 30, he tied the pool record while provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 100 back (51.28) and teamed up with junior Jake Pletz and sophomores Matthew Baurle and Max Hague to win the 200 medley relay in a pool-record time of 1:35.92. Brooks also won the 50 free (21.88) and was part of the winning 400 free relay (3:15.30) for the Titans. In Westminster’s 167.5-130.5 win at Mount Union on Feb. 1, Brooks claimed the 50 free (21.74), the 200 back (1:56.35) and was a part of the winning 400 medley relay (3:36.40).

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