DENVER - Denver's
Samantha Corea and Northern Colorado's
Kelsey Smith have been named the Western Athletic Conference Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, for Nov. 23 - Dec. 2.
Corea, a sophomore from Vancouver, British Columbia (Magee Secondary School), recorded three first-place finishes and set two school records at the Iowa Invite this weekend. Corea took first in the 200 backstroke with a meet-record and school-record time of 1:53.76. She also finished first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.56 in the final. In the 100 backstroke preliminaries, Corea swam a school and meet-record time of 53.31. She finished first in the 100 butterfly (53.77) and second in the 50 freestyle (23.02). Corea recorded NCAA "B" standard times in all four individual events she competed in. She was also a member of four Pioneer relay teams, taking sixth in the 200 medley relay (1:42.76) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:45.35), seventh in the 200 freestyle relay (1:34.40) and eighth in the 400 freestyle relay (3:26.89). Corea is currently ranked 10th in the NCAA in the 200 backstroke, 25th in the 100 backstroke and 36th in the 100 butterfly. Denver competed against Big Ten schools Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and Northwestern. Also at the Iowa Invite was Washington State (Pac-12), Notre Dame (Big East), Iowa State (Big 12), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Horizon) and Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley).
Smith, a freshman from Temecula, Calif. (Chaparral H.S.), won the 1-meter diving at the Mutual of Omaha Invitational, scoring 26-.7- to win by 60 points. Her score ranks eighth on the school's all-time top 10 list. She also won the 3-meter event with 232.00 points, edging out teammate Sara Moldenhauer who scored 227.80.
Other swimmers nominated: New Mexico State sophomore Jessica Legge, Northern Arizona freshman Ellie Morrissey, Northern Colorado freshman Jenny LaPorte and Seattle U freshman Dilynn D'Agostino.
Other divers nominated: Northern Arizona senior Kristy Ardavanis.