Shea, Yoshida, Bolstad, Rice Win Weekly Awards
MAAC Sports
Edison, N.J. ? Patrick Shea of Marist College won MAAC Men’s Swimmer of the Week honors, while Michelle Yoshida earned the distinction of Women’s Swimmer of the Week. Marist diver Brian Bolstad took home the MAAC Men’s Diver of the Week award, while Elizabeth Rice of Siena College won on the women’s side.
Shea, a freshman from Peabody, Massachusetts, nearly broke a school record as he won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:32.40 in the Red Foxes’ win over Seton Hall on Saturday. He also came in second place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:42.35. Shea has league-leading times in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 1,650-yard freestyle heading into next week’s MAAC Championships.
Yoshida, a freshman from Kanehoe, Hawaii, captured two individual events, which included a school record, and anchored a victorious 200-yard medley relay in a double-dual against Loyola and Iona on January 31. She set her fifth individual (seventh overall) program record of the year when she captured the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:56.12. Yoshida also won the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 53.98 seconds, which is less than a second off the school record. In the 200-yard medley relay, Yoshida swam the fastest anchor split in the pool to help the Stags finish in a time of 1:54.74 and place ahead of Iona.
Bolstad, a sophomore out of Highland, New York, broke his own school record in 3-meter diving this week with a score of 371.25, as Marist defeated Seton Hall 153-147 in a road dual meet. He also took second place off the 1-meter board with a score of 296.03. Bolstad has previously been named MAAC Men’s Diver of the Week twice this season and has qualified for the ECAC Championships and the NCAA Zone Diving Meet.
Freshman Rice had a strong showing in earning the high scores on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards in the Saints’ Senior Day victory over C.W. Post on Saturday. The Gansevoort, N.Y. native narrowly missed breaking the pool record by scoring a 226.00 on 1-meter dives. She followed that up by posting a score of 244.20 in 3-meter diving.
The 2009 MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships will be held February 12-14 at Loyola College in Baltimore, Md.