DENVER ? Northern Arizona senior Natalie Hughes has been named the Western Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Week, for the week of Dec. 31-Jan. 6. This is the first WAC Athlete of the Week honor for Hughes this season and the second of her career, earning the honor in 2006.
Hughes, a native of St. Clair, Mich. (St. Clair), captured a first and second-place finish in diving events in dual meets versus No. 4 Arizona and Oregon State on Jan. 4. Hughes won the three-meter event with a career-high score of 318.75 and placed second on the one-meter with another career-high mark of 293.99. Her three-meter score ranks second-best in school history, while Hughes’ one-meter score is the third-best all-time. In both diving events, Hughes finished ahead of four divers from the University of Arizona.
Other nominees included: Tara Hahto of Boise State led the Broncos to a third-place finish at the UC Irvine/Ayres Hotel & Suites Invitational, as she finished second in the 50-yard breaststroke (32.13), fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:30.78) and eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:10.23) ... Stephanie De Lima of Hawai’i finished in the top three in all three diving events at the Hawai’i Diving Invitational, placing second in both the three-meter springboard (288.65) and platform (240.05) and third in the one-meter springboard (266.90) ... Caitlin Macky of San Jose State captured a total of nine first-place finishes (four individual and five relay) in a pair of dual meet victories over Cal State Bakersfield and a first-ever Spartan victory at the UC Irvine Relay Invitational, touching the wall first in the 200-yard Individual Medley (2:13.24), the 400-yard Individual Medley (4:46.51), the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.16) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:29.97) events.
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