DENVER - San Jose State's
Julia Craddock and Northern Arizona's
Gwen Smithberg have been named the Western Athletic Conference Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, for Nov. 12-18.
Craddock, a senior from Litchfield Park, Ariz. (Millennium H.S.), set two school records in the 200 IM and the 400 IM, as San Jose State placed fifth overall in the Arena Invitational. Craddock broke the 200 IM record first in a preliminary heat with a 2:01.92 and came back in the championship final with a seventh-place finish and again with a better time of 2:01.91. She notched her second SJSU record in the meet with a NCAA Division I B-cut qualifying time of 4:17.55 in the 400 IM. Her fourth-place finish was the best by a Spartan in the Invitational meet that included two top 25 ranked teams. Craddock was the only San Jose State swimmer to compete in three individual championship finals with a sixth-place finish in the 200 butterfly. She set a new season and career best with a time of 1:59.92. Craddock helped add to the Spartans 654 points by swimming the third leg of the 400 freestyle relay (6th, 3:21.80) and the lead leg of the 800 freestyle relay (5th, 7:26.44).
Smithberg, a junior from Seattle, Wash. (Kennedy Catholic H.S.), placed sixth overall out of 23 divers on platform to wrap up the Arizona Diving Invite on Sunday. She scored 216.00 and was just .10 back of fifth place, finishing ahead of divers from Arizona, Cal, Stanford, Boise State, San Diego State and others. Smithberg also was the second highest NAU finisher on 1-meter with a total of 195.15 to place 34th-overall and competed on 3-meter, scoring 180.40. Smithberg has already qualified for the NCAA Zone meet on 3-meter.
Other swimmers nominated: CSU Bakersfield freshman Michaela Paige and New Mexico State sophomore Jessica Legge.