Florida, Florida State and Indiana Among Schools With Multiple Conference Weekly Honors

PHOENIX, Arizona, January 21. WITH the second half of the college swimming and diving season well underway, competition is heating up in pools across the United States. Conferences continue to recognize the hard work athletes are putting in with more weekly honors.

American Athletic Conference
Female Athlete of the Week: Kelsi Worrell, Louisville

Worrell notched two NCAA ‘B’ cuts in two first-place swims to help lead No. 14 Louisville to a victory over rival No. 24 Notre Dame in a home meet. She took the win in 22.96 in the 50-yard freestyle, and finished in 53.44 in the 100-yard butterfly in a victory.

Male Athlete of the Week: Joao de Lucca, Louisville
De Lucca won the 100 and 200 freestyles at the SMU Classic, posting times that came close to his season bests.

Atlantic 10
Male Swimmer of the Week: Shintaro Noguchi, Fordham

Noguchi won four individual events in two meets this past week against Iona and La Salle. Against Iona, Noguchi recorded first-place finishes in the 50-yd freestyle (21.37) and the 200-yd butterfly (1:57.66). Against the Explorers, he captured titles in the 100-yd freestyle (46.57) and the 100-yd butterfly (50.34) while finishing second in the 200-yd freestyle (1:43.15).

Female Swimmer of the Week: Mali Kobelja, Richmond
For the second week in a row, Kobelja takes the conference honor. She led the Spiders to a sweep of conference opponents Fordham and La Salle this past weekend. Kobelja went undefeated in every event on Sunday including victories in the 100-yd backstroke (57.76), the 200-yd breaststroke (2:20.97) and the 200-yd individual medley (2:05.75).

Male Rookie of the Week: Heath Maginn, Richmond
Maginn recorded first-place finishes in the 100-yd backstroke (54.82) and the 200-yd backstroke (1:55.41) against Bryant this past weekend.

Female Rookie of the Week: Irina Chiullli, Richmond
The freshman earned another weekly conference honor by winning both diving events against La Salle and Fordham.

Atlantic Coast
Male Swimmer of the Week: Pavel Sankovich, Florida State

Sankovich took a break from his typical backstroke specialty to record wins in the 200 fly (1:46.27) and 200 IM (1:50.64) against Florida Atlantic.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Leah Smith, Virginia
Smith won the 500 free by almost six seconds and the 200 free by just under three seconds. In the 1650 free, Smith recorded a time of 16:17.84, good enough for a margin of victory of more than 38 seconds.

Male Diver of the Week: Mikey Lewark, Florida State
Lewark posted a mark of 410.43 in 3-meter springboard against Florida Atlantic, a career best. On the 1-meter, Lewark was second behind his teammate Tom Neubacher with a score of 323.93. Each of Lewark’s scores was good enough to earn NCAA zone standard.

Female Diver of the Week: Katrina Young, Florida State
The Seminole posted a first-place finish on the 1-meter board and second-place finish on the 3-meter board against Florida Atlantic, recording NCAA zone scores of 317.03 on the 1-meter and 306.30 on the 3-meter.

Big 10
Male Swimmer of the Week: Richard Funk, Michigan

Funk swam his fastest 100 breast of the season at the SMU Classic, posting a winning time of 52.31. He also won the 200 breast with a 1:54.75 and was part of both winning medley relay teams.

Female Swimmers of the Week: Alex Norris, Ohio State
Norris gives Ohio State its first swimmer of the week honor this season, thanks to wins in the 200 free, 500 free and 400 IM at the Kenyon Invite.

Male Diver of the Week: Darian Schmidt, Indiana
Schmidt returns to the list of weekly conference honorees with a win on the 3-meter springboard against Iowa and Missouri with a score of 455.75 points.

Female Diver of the Week: Abby Grilli, Iowa
Grilli got her name on the list of NCAA zone qualifiers with runner-up finishes on both springboards in the double dual meet against Indiana and Missouri.

Male Freshman of the Week: Anze Tavcar, Indiana
The Slovenian won the 50 and 100 freestyles in the double dual against Iowa and Missouri with new personal best times of 20.18 and 44.21.

Female Freshman of the Week: Gia Dalesandro, Indiana
Dalesandro won the 200 IM with a 2:03.80 and placed in the top four in two other individual events in the double dual against Iowa and Missouri.

Colonial Athletic Association
Male Swimmer of the Week: Valtteri Halonen, North Carolina-Wilmington

This past weekend, Halonen claimed first place finishes in three individual events and four event overall in a meet versus Wingate. The Finland native swam the 200 free in 1:43.97, the 100 fly in 50.45, the 200 back in 1:50.63 and the winning 400 medley relay in 3:51.12.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Anna Schegoleva, Northeastern
Schegoleva registered three individual first-place finishes in a dual meet against UVM. It’s the second straight meet in which the Cyprus native has won three events, though on Saturday she won the 100 back (58.37), the 100 free (52.95) and the 100 butterfly (57.65).

Female Diver of the Week: Taryn McLaughlin, James Madison
McLaughlin captured first-place honors on the one-meter board with a score of 264.20, then placed second on the three-meter, tallying a mark of 254.40.

Conference USA
Female Swimmer of the Week: Anna Maria Svanbergsson, East Carolina

Svanbergsson earned a pair of top honors at this weekend’s dual meet against C-USA rival Old Dominion. The freestyle specialist won both the 100- and 200- yard events, touching the wall 52.25 and 1:52.25, respectively.

Female Diver of the Week: Amy Crayne, Western Kentucky
The freshman finished third out of 17 divers in the one-meter event against Clemson and College of Charleston with a score of 258.90. She also placed third on platform after posting a school-record score of 208.45.

Horizon League
Male Swimmer of the Week: Willem Poelmans, Green Bay

Poelmans won all of his individual events in two home dual meets against Valparaiso and IUPUI, taking the 200-individual medley in a time of 1:54.66 and the 100-breaststroke with a time of 58.87. Against IUPUI, he finished first in the 200-freestyle in a time of 1:43.27 and swam a season-best in the 500-freestyle with a time of 4:41.91.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Rowan Elbadry, Cleveland State
Against Gannon, Elbadry won the 100-freestyle with a time of 52.33 and 200-freestye in a time of 1:54.88. In the victory over Wright State, Elbadry won the 50-freestye in a time of 24.16, the 100-freestyle finishing with a time of 52.76 and 200-freestyle in a time of 1:54.53. In each meet, she was also a member of the winning 400-freestyle relay teams.

Male Diver of the Week: K.J. Heger, Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Heger earned his fifth League honor this season leading Milwaukee on the diving boards in two wins over IUPUI and Chicago. Against IUPUI, he won the 1-meter with a score of 295.50 and 3-meter collecting a score of 296.25. At Chicago, Heger broke Milwaukee’s 1-meter record with a score of 358.80 and finished first on the 3-meter board tallying a score of 366.75.

Female Diver of the Week: Rachel Margis, Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Facing IUPUI, Margis won the 1-meter collecting a score of 279.82 and 3-meter with a score of 240.60. At Chicago, Margis set a pool record on the 3-meter board tallying a score of 315.75 to mark her first NCAA Zone qualifying score of the season.

Mid-American
Male Swimmer of the Week: Grant Stafford, Miami

Stafford won two individual events in a team win over Evansville on Saturday. In the 1000 freestyle, he finished with a time of 9:52.64, and he finished the 500 freestyle six seconds faster than the next fastest with a time of 4:47.22.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Victoria Griffin, Bowling Green
Griffin remained unbeaten in dual meets in the 100 and 200 freestyle this year, winning the 100 in 51.63 seconds and the 200 in 1:51.51 in the dual against Michigan State.

North Coast
Male Athlete of the Week: Trevor Manz, Kenyon

Manz placed fifth in the 200 IM (1:53.80), sixth in the 200 breast (2:06.04) and sixth in the 400 IM (4:05.40) at the Kenyon Winter Invite.

Female Athlete of the Week: Caroline Bridges, DePauw
Bridges finished second in the 50 free (24.88) and 100 free (53.30) on Friday against Div. I Xavier and then went on to win the 100 free (53.31) and 200 free (1:56.18) in Saturday’s double-dual meet against Illinois Wesleyan and Rose-Hulman.

President’s Athletic Conference
Male Athlete of the Week: Xander Emili, Saint Vincent College

The freshman recorded three first-place finishes and a third-place showing against Washington & Jefferson, winning the 200 fly (2:13.50) and 200 IM (2:03.15), and swam on the winning 200 medley relay (1:41.49) while finishing third in the 100 free (50.77). In Saturday’s win over Bethany he placed first in both the 100 breast (1:02.55) and the 100 fly (55.11) while also claiming the meet’s fastest time as a member of the exhibition 200 free relay.

Female Athlete of the Week: Alexi Pyles, Grove City
Pyles won eight events last week. On Wednesday against Frostburg State, she claimed individual wins in the 50 free (26.14) and 100 fly (1:02.51) and also swam successful legs on the first-place 200 medley (2:00.47) and 200 free (1:47.93) relays. In Saturday’s tri-meet with Saint Vincent and Chatham, Pyles captured the 100 back (1:05.71), 100 fly (1:02.62) and 200 IM (2:24.94) while anchoring the winning 200 free relay (1:48.02).

Southeastern Conference
Male Swimmer of the Week: Dan Wallace, Florida

Wallace won the 400 IM in a season best 3:42.11 at the SMU Classic, and won the “B final” in the 500 free (4:17.23) and 200 IM (1:45.95).

Female Swimmer of the Week: Elizabeth Beisel, Florida
Beisel posted strong performances against Florida Atlantic, especially with her 1:54.60 in the 200 butterfly, as well as a 4:37.04 in the 500 free.

Male Diver of the Week: Ford McLiney, Texas A&M
McLiney, in his first conference honor, placed second on both springboards last week in the Aggies’ meet against LSU on Saturday.

Female Diver of the Week: Lauren Ready, Missouri
Ready posted a school-record score of 342.55 on the 1-meter in the double dual with Indiana, Illinois and Iowa to win the event. She also won the 3-meter springboard with 328.95 points.

Female Freshman of the Week: Kara Kopsco, LSU
In beating reigning NCAA champion Cammille Adams last weekend in the 200 butterfly with a 1:56.12, Kopsco set a school record and post a lifetime best. She also won the 100 fly with a 53.38.

Summit League
Male Swimmer of the Week: Tanner Krall, Denver

Krall recorded four individual event wins to help Denver defeat BYU and Wyoming. He swept the breaststroke events during both duals, clocking a weekend-best 56.61 in the 100 vs. BYU and 2:04.66 in the 200 vs. Wyoming.

Female Swimmer of the Week: Amanda Sanders, Denver
The freshman swept the breaststroke events on over two days of competition, posting weekend-best times of 1:04.24 in the 100 against Wyoming and 2:19.38 in the 200 vs. BYU and New Mexico. Sanders also won the 200 IM against BYU and New Mexico touching the wall at 2:08.80.

Western Athletic Conference
Female Swimmer of the Week: Rachel Millet, Idaho

Millet won all three individual events she competed in during a dual meet at New Mexico State: the 100-yard backstroke (56.66), the 200 backstroke (2:04.11) and the 200 individual medley (2:07.42).

Female Diver of the Week: Paige Hunt, Idaho
Hunt won the 3-meter springboard in a dual meet at New Mexico State with a score of 299.92. She scored 30 more points than the second place finisher in the event. Hunt added a second place finish on the 1-meter with a score of 258.82, just four points behind the winner.

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