Drannan, Yoshida, Burke, Apostolakis Win Weekly Awards
MAAC Sports
Edison, N.J. ? Jacob Drannan of Loyola College won MAAC Men’s Swimmer of the Week honors, while Fairfield University’s Michelle Yoshida earned the distinction on the women’s side. Paul Apostolakis and Amanda Burke, both of Rider University, swept Diver of the Week honors.
Drannan, a sophomore from Lauderdale, Fla., helped lead the Greyhounds to a win over conference rival and defending MAAC Champion Marist at the H2Ounds Invitational. He earned first-place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:37.84 and in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:54.52 on the first day of the meet. The next day, Drannan earned a second-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, clocking in at 1:53.93.
Yoshida, a native of Kaneohe, Hawaii, won three individual events while setting a school record in competition at the Harold Anderson Invitational, hosted by the University of Rhode Island. She set the program record in the 100-yard backstroke with a winning time of 1:00.15, besting the previous mark set in 1999. She won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.36 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 53.36 seconds, less than two-tenths of a second off school records in both events. She also posted splits of 24.03 seconds in the 200-yard freestyle relay and 51.85 seconds in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Apostolakis, a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., competed in the Big Al Open against a field that included nationally-ranked University of Florida and host Princeton University. He placed third in the one-meter dive with a six-dive score of 302.65, and placed fifth in the three-meter dive with a mark of 288.05, also based on six dives.
Burke, a junior out of Churchville, Pa., also competed in the Big Al Open at Princeton. She won the one-meter dive with a personal best score of 302.45, along with a second-place finish in the three-meter dive with a score of 313.55. A 2008 NCAA qualifier and Mid Major All-American, this is her fifth diver of the week award this season.
The 2009 MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships will be held February 12-14 at Loyola College in Baltimore, Md.