College Aquatic Sport Athletes of the Week Roundup: NCAA Champions, Contenders Rewarded

PHOENIX, Arizona, October 29. MORE collegiate conferences are starting to award swimmers and divers for their efforts in the pool, and we’re bringing you the list of weekly honors bestowed across the country.

American Athletic Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Joao de Lucca, Louisville
De Lucca, the reigning NCAA champion in the 200 freestyle, showed consistency in his performances in the freestyle events as the Cardinals beat the Tennessee men’s team in a dual meet for the first time in history. De Lucca won the 200 free with a 1:37.44 and claimed victory by one hundredth of a second in the 100 free with a 44.02, putting his at the top of the collegiate ranks in that event so far this season.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Jackie Keire, Cincinnati
Keire nearly won every freestyle event last weekend at the West Virginia Invite. She did not compete in the 50 free, but posted a 23.91 on her team’s runner-up 200 free relay that would have tied for first in the individual event. She won the 100 free with a 50.81, the 200 free in 1:49.05, the 500 free with a 4:58.65 and the 1000 free in 10:09.22.

Atlantic 10 Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Steve Sholdra, Fordham
Sholdra displayed a wide range of diversity over the weekend in two dual meets against Marist and Fairfield. He won the 500 free with a 4:38.02, the 1000 free in 9:29.38 and the 200 fly with a 1:54.20 in the dual meet against Marist. The following day, he took the 100 back with a 54.76 and won the 200 breast with a 2:12.45 in the Fairfield meet.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Meghan Smith, Duquesne
Smith was a big part of helping the Duquesne Dukes beat St. Francis last weekend, winning three individual events. The senior won the 200 fly (2:07.81), 200 breast (2:27.83) and 400 IM (4:36.10) in the team’s victory.

Male Rookie of the Week: Austin Nguyenphu, St. Louis
Nguyenphu was solid for the Billikens in the double-dual meet against William Jewell and Truman State, winning the 1000 free (10:00.60) and 200 breast (2:08.40).

Female Rookie of the Week: Megan Polaha, Fordham
In her first collegiate competition, Polaha posted three individual-event wins against Marist and Fairfield. She won the 200 IM in 2:07.83 and the 200 fly in 2:03.85 against Marist, then turned around to win the 200 back in 2:08.15 against Fairfield. She was also a part of both winning relays in the meet against Fairfield.

Atlantic Coast Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Jonathan Boffa, North Carolina State
The tri-meet with Florida State and Georgia Tech produced two wins for Boffa, both season bests. He won the 200 free with a 1:37.47, then followed it up with a 44.03 in the 100 free.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Alexia Zevnik, North Carolina State
Zevnik was just as impressive as Boffa in the tri-meet against Florida State and Georgia Tech. She won the 100 back with a 54.81 and touched first in the 200 back with a 1:58.77.

Male Diver of the Week: Nick McCrory, Duke
McCrory, the reigning NCAA champion in platform diving and a 2012 Olympian, made his season debut in a dual meet against UNC-Wilmington with very strong scores on both diving boards. His 445.27 on the 1-meter and 468.37 on 3-meter are the highest scores posted this season in the college ranks, and both set pool records.

Female Diver of the Week: Kelsey Goodman, Florida State
Goodman won the 1-meter competition against North Carolina State and Georgia Tech with 299.05 points and finished second on the 3-meter board with 309.45 points.

Big Ten Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Richard Funk, Michigan
Funk continued his impressive season with another pair of breaststroke wins at the tri-meet against Texas and Indiana. His times of 54.14 in the 100 and 1:58.82 in the 200 are his fastest of the season so far and rank him in the top five nationally in each event.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Lindsay Vrooman, Indiana
The Hoosier senior won the distance freestyles (500: 4:49.01, 1000: 9:46.51) in the tri-meet against Texas and Michigan last weekend, her fastest times of the season.

Male Diver of the Week: Stephen Etienne, Ohio State
In winning the 1-meter competition against Kenyon last weekend, Etienne qualified for the NCAA zone diving championships next spring with a score of 410.03.

Female Diver of the Week: Michelle Cabassol, Purdue
With wins on the 1-meter springboard (295.75) and 3-meter springboard (303.65), Cabassol qualified for the NCAA zone championships and helped Purdue win the Indiana Intercollegiates last weekend.

Male Freshman of the Week: Matt McHugh, Ohio State
McHugh earned not one, but two individual event wins in the meet against Kenyon last weekend. Those are his first and second wins in his collegiate career (besides relays). McHugh won the 100 fly in 48.62 and the 100 back with a 49.18.

Female Freshman of the Week: Olivia Barker, Indiana
Two first-place finishes went a long way in giving Barker this honor, as she posted times of 1:58.93 in the 200 fly and 54.95 in the 100 fly against Texas and Michigan last weekend.

Big 12 Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Bryce Bohman, West Virginia
Though the West Virginia Mountaineers lost to Penn State in their opening dual meet, Bohman stood out with runner-up finishes in the 200 back (1:47.93) and 100 back (48.73).

Female Swimmer of the Week: Sam Tucker, Texas
Texas’ Tucker was a key performer in two recent dual meets for the Longhorns. She was second in two individual events against North Carolina, posting a 23.55 in the 50 free and 1:48.67 in the 200 free. Against Texas A&M, she won the 200 free (1:47.95), was second in the 100 free (50.44) and third in the 50 free (23.42).

Male Diver of the Week: Liam McLaughlin, West Virginia
In the dual meet against Penn State, McLaughlin swept the springboard diving events, scoring 284.47 on the 1-meter and 324.75 on 3-meter.

Female Diver of the Week: Emma Ivory-Ganja, Texas
After a couple of second-place finishes in the dual meet against North Carolina, Ivory-Ganja did her best in the close meet against Texas A&M, finishing second on the 1-meter with 288 points and winning the 3-meter competition with 338.40 points.

Conference USA
Female Swimmer of the Week: Casey Clark, Rice
Clark continues her impressive season with another weekly conference swimming honor thanks to an impressive weekend at the Rice Invitational. Clark won the 100 fly with a 55.45, the 100 back in 57.90 and the 200 fly with a 2:02.46 — all in the same day.

Female Diver of the Week: Rachel Eckert, Old Dominion
In the dual meet against Towson, Eckert swept the diving events in impressive fashion. She leads all conference divers with a 308.03 on the 3-meter springboard, good enough for a school record and a place at the NCAA zone diving meet. She also scored 248.70 points to win the 1-meter competition.

Horizon League
Male Swimmer of the Week: Clement Quilliec, Wright State
Five individual-event wins helped the Frenchman win this week’s honor. Quilliec won the 100 breast and 200 IM twice last weekend in dual meets against Green Bay and Milwaukee. His best 100 breast of the weekend was a 57.62 against Green Bay and the 1:53.03 marked his top 200 IM time of the weekend, in the dual meet with Green Bay. He also won the 200 breast against Milwaukee with a time of 2:07.56.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Parker Wolf, Green Bay
In the course of three meets, Wolf won the 50 free three times and the 100 free twice against Wright State, Youngstown State and Cleveland State. She swam her fastest 50 free against Cleveland State with a 24.23 and 53.53 in the 100 free.

Male Diver of the Week: K.J. Heger, Milwaukee
Heger continues to impress on the boards, sweeping both diving events last weekend against Wright State and cementing his place for the NCAA zone championships in a few months.

Female Diver of the Week: Tricia Grant, Oakland
Grant stepped up against divers from Big Ten school Illinois and won both diving events, scoring 303.98 on 1-meter and 291.75 on 3-meter.

Mid-American Conference
Male Athlete of the Week: Garret Nevels, Missouri State
Nevels was on a record-breaking tear last weekend in the dual meet against Drury, posting a school record score of 357.67 points on the 1-meter springboard, then beating the pool record on the 3-meter with 358.35, beating second place by 91 points. The pool record he broke had stood for 26 years.

Female Athlete of the Week: Brittney Kuras, Buffalo
Three individual-event wins against Toledo helped Kuras win this week’s award. Her first win came in the 200 freestyle with a 1:51.76, followed by the 100 free with a 50.75 and the 200 IM in 2:06.33.

North Coast Atlantic Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Brian Maddock, Wooster
In helping Wooster beat conference rival Wittenberg for the first time in seven years, Maddock swept the backstroke events with a 54.83 in the 100 and 2:00.21 in the 200. He also split a 24.81 in leading off the winning 200 medley relay.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Olivia Gillison, Ohio Wesleyan
Gillison’s wins in the 50 free (26.20) and 100 free (58.00) helped Ohio Wesleyan beat Baldwin Wallace in dual meet action. The deciding race was the 200 free relay, in which Gillison swam the leadoff leg to help Wesleyan win the race and the meet.

Patriot League
Male Swimmer of the Week: Mike Nicholson, Bucknell
Despite his team’s loss to Pittsburgh, Nicholson is being lauded for his two wins in the dual meet. He won the 400 IM handily with a 3:59.57 and touched out a Pitt rival in the 200 fly by 39-hundredths of a second with a 1:50.13.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Emma Levendoski, Bucknell
The Bucknell women’s team also lost to Pittsburgh, but Levendoski stood out as the only event winner for Bucknell. She won the 100 back with a 57.03 and the 200 back in 2:02.02.

Male Diver of the Week: Wil Mayo, Navy
The Navy Midshipment faced Virginia in a dual meet over the weekend and Mayo was the standout diver for Navy, placing fourth in both diving events.

Female Diver of the Week: Katie Hetherington, Bucknell
Competing in her first meet of the season, Hetherington placed third on the 3-meter springboard with 260.48 points and fourth on 1-meter with 241.65 points.

Honorable mention swimmers and divers
Ariana Bullard (Army), Josh Urnezis (Army), Tyler Wenzell (Bucknell), Kaitlyn Ruffing (Lehigh), Cailtin Cronin (Loyola Maryland)

Presidents’ Athletic Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Steven Brooks, Westminster
On Saturday, Brooks won the 100 back in 54.04 and the 200 back with a 2:02.88 in the Titans’ dual-meet victory over Penn State Behrend.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Marina Baker, Bethany College
In the course of two days, Baker won five individual events, starting with three in the tri-meet against Alfred State and Franciscan. She won the 50 free with a 25.71, the 100 free in 56.08 and the 100 breast with a 1:13.45. On Saturday, she took the 200 free with a 1:56.74 and the 200 breast with a 2:43.60.

Southeastern Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Sam Tierney, Missouri
Though not his fastest times of the season, Tierney posted wins in the 100 (55.89) and 200 (2:02.11) breaststrokes in the tri-meet against Kentucky and Southern Illinois. For good measure, he also won the 100 back with a 49.35 and helped the Tigers post a 3:18.15, the fifth-fastest 400 medley relay in the country so far.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Allyx Purcell, Auburn
Racing against former NCAA champions and national team members, Purcell managed to get to the wall first in the 100 free with a 49.58 and would win the 50 free with a 22.90 at the Royals Invite.

Male Diver of the Week: David Bonuchi, Missouri
Posting his best scores of the season, Bonuchi swept the diving events against Southern Illinois and Kentucky. He earned 351.25 on the 1-meter and 396.80 on the 3-meter.

Female Diver of the Week: Alex Bettridge, LSU
In the dual meet against Tulane, Bettridge won both springboard diving events, posting 304.73 on 1-meter and 311.70 on 3-meter. She ranks third in the conference on the 1-meter board.

Male Freshman of the Week: Brandon Flynn, Kentucky
Distance swimmer Flynn was victorious in four events in the two-day meet against Southern Illinois and Missouri. He won the 400 IM in 3:58.11 to earn his first collegiate victory, then followed it up with a 4:31.75 in the 500 free. He would win the 500 again the next day with a time of 4:32.26 and add the 1000 free to his wins with a 9:21.94.

Female Freshman of the Week: Heather Lundstrom, Tennessee
Lundstrom got within a second of her lifetime best in the 200 fly when she posted a 1:58.53 to win the event in a dual meet against South Carolina and also posted a 55.62 in the 100 fly.

Summit League
Male Swimmer of the Week: Dylan Bunch, Denver
Bunch was a big part in helping Denver beat Arizona State in a dual meet last weekend. Bunch won two events: the 500 free (4:30.15) and the 1000 free (9:16.10). He also posted an 8:06.40 in a short course meters unscored meet against Arizona State.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Bridgette McNally, Denver
McNally won three individual events in the dual meet against Arizona State, posting a 1:50.28 in the 200 free, 4:52.31 in the 500 free and 4:19.40 in the 400 IM. In the non-traditional short course meters meet the day before, McNally won the 50 back (29.61) and 150 back (1:37.34).

Male Diver of the Week: Ross Edfort, Denver
Though a senior, Edfort is celebrating his first conference weekly honor today after posting impressive scores in both springboard diving events in the dual meet against Arizona State. He was third on the 3-meter with 328.95 points and fifth on the 1-meter with 241.55

Female Diver of the Week: Dana Gau, Denver
In the dual against Arizona State, Gau was third on 3-meter with a score of 266.95 points. She was also fourth on the 1-meter with 243.65 points.

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