MIAC Swimming & Diving Athletes-of-the-Week

http://www.miac-online.org/news/2012/1/23/MSWIM_0123122623.aspx

 

MIAC Men's Swimming and Diving Athlete-of-the-Week

 

Justin Mullee, St. Thomas
Madison, Wis. / Memorial

Over the weekend, the St. Thomas swimming and diving team hosted the "Meet of the Saints" and emerged with a first-place finish in the men's standings. The Tommies' top swimmer was sophomore Justin Mullee (Madison, Wis./Memorial), who won a pair of eventual times and established himself as one of the conference's top backstroke swimmers with his performance. Mullee not only won both events, but now holds the MIAC's top time in each one. As a result, Mullee has been named the MIAC Men's Swimming and Diving Athlete-of-the-Week.

Mullee finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.52 and he won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:55.77. Saturday, the sophomore cut five seconds off his previous best time in the 200 and two seconds off his previous best in the 100. En route to his MIAC top times, Mullee beat the previous No. 1 and No. 2 swimmers in the conference in both events. His two first-place finishes helped St. Thomas rack up 902 points to finish first. St. Olaf was second with 724.5 while Saint John's (529.5) and St. Cloud State (125.0) finished third and fourth, respectively.

The Tommies have a busy weekend on the horizon with a pair of events against MIAC competition. Friday, they'll host Gustavus for a dual meet at 5 p.m., and Saturday they'll head across town to compete in the St. Catherine Invite at 8:30 a.m. UST will travel to the two-day Minnesota Challenge the following weekend, then will only compete in diving events as it prepares for the MIAC Championships, which will be held Feb. 16-18 at the University of Minnesota's Aquatic Center.

MIAC Women's Swimming and Diving Athlete-of-the-Week

 

Meghan Weiss, St. Olaf
St. Paul, Minn. / Visitation

The St. Olaf women's swimming and diving team emerged victorious at Saturday's "Meet of the Saints" hosted by St. Thomas, narrowly beating Saint Benedict for the team title, meaning junior Meghan Weiss (St. Paul, Minn./Visitation) picked a good day to have the best meet of her career thus far. Weiss won four individual freestyle events and also led one relay team to victory Saturday, recording her season-best time in all four events. For her performance, Weiss has been named the MIAC Women's Swimming and Diving Athlete-of-the-Week.

Weiss claimed individual victory in the 100-, 200-, and 500-yard freestyle races, and also swam a leg in the first-place 400-yard freestyle relay team with an impressive split. She won the 100 in 53.66, the 200 in 1:56.05, the 500 in 5:11.98 and her 53.00 split helped the 400 free relay team win with a time of 3:40.13. Her points proved to be crucial to the Oles' team success, as her team scored 736 points to the Blazers' total of 732 in a tightly contested race for first place. The host Tommies were in the mix too, finishing third with 730 and St. Cloud State came in fourth with a total of 128.

The Oles and their junior star swimmer have just two more tune-ups to get ready for the 2012 MIAC Championships, which should be hotly contested if the Meet of the Saints is any indication. Saturday, St. Olaf will square off in a cross-town rivalry dual meet against Carleton, and will spend the following weekend at the Minnesota Challenge before taking time off to prepare for the MIAC meet, which will be Feb. 16-18 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Courtesy of MIAC