Baxter, Love, O'Rourke and Jones Honored With Weekly Awards
MAAC Sports
Edison, NJ - Niagara University's
Shane Baxter was named the MAAC Men's Swimmer of the Week, while Siena College's
Shannon Love earned the award on the women's
side. Niagara's Ian O'Rourke was chosen as the Men's Diver of the Week and fellow
Purple Eagle Ashley Jones was selected as the
Women's Diver of the Week.
Despite going 0-2 this weekend,
freshman Baxter had another strong run for the men. He placed first
in both the 200 yard IM, clocking in at 1:59.38 and the 100 yard backstroke
with a time of 52.05 verse Bryant. Baxter was a member of the 200 yard medley
relay that placed second, finishing in 1:39.08. During the men's
competition against Colgate, Baxter broke his own NU record in
the 100 backstroke as the lead leg in the medley relay. He swam the event
in 51.67, beating his previous time by .38 seconds. He also won the 200
yard backstroke event with a time of 1:55.14.
Love
helped lead Siena to wins over Bryant and Niagara at a tri-meet Saturday at the
Siena Swim Center. She won the 200 medley relay (1:53.02; :30.76 split) and 100
free (:53.57), and was narrowly out-touched in the 50 free (:24.43), falling
six one-hundredths of a second behind the winner. The Saints are now 8-3 on the
year, and 2-0 against MAAC opponents.
In the Purple Eagles 125-112 loss
to Bryant on Nov. 12, Ian O'Rourke finished first in the three-meter event with
a final score of 292.90 and earned top honors in the one-meter event
(333.60). In the 141-87 loss to Colgate, O'Rourke swept the one-meter
diving event (306.90) and three-meter diving event (316.73). O'Rourke's
performance qualified him for the NCAA Zone A Championship.
In the dual-meet loss to Bryant
and Siena on Saturday, Nov. 12, Ashley Jones nabbed top honors in the one-meter
diving event with a final score of 230.30. The following day in the
170-70 loss to Colgate, Jones had another strong showing for the Purple Eagles,
setting a new Niagara three-meter diving record with her score of 245.99.
The previous record was set in 1989 by Lori Mead (240.52). Jones also
placed second in the in the one-meter diving event (237.22).
The 2012 MAAC Swimming & Diving Championships will be held Thursday, February 16 through Saturday, February 18, 2012 at Erie
Community College in Buffalo, NY, hosted by Canisius College and Niagara
University.