DENVER - Grand Canyon's Youssef Elkamash and Wyoming's Austin Rettinghouse have been named Western Athletic Conference Swimmer and Diver of the week, respectively, for Nov. 30-Dec. 6.
Elkamash, a junior from Alexandria, Egypt (Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport HS) competed in the USA Swimming AT&T Winter Nationals. Against some of the top swimmers in the country/world, Youssef earned finals appearances in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke events, finishing 10th in the 100 and 16th in the 200. His 100 Breast time had a CollegeSwimmimg.com performance score of 849.0 - the top score in the WAC this week for men. It is an NCAA B Cut and it is the 25th fastest time in DI and the 2nd fastest in the WAC this season. It was also an Egyptian National Record. Elkamash's 200 Breast time had a CollegeSwimmimg.com performance score of 786.0 - the 4th highest score in the WAC this week for men. It is an NCAA B Cut. Youssef is currently ranked 63rd in DI and 3rd in the WAC this season. The junior also swam a 50 Breast Time trial, setting the Egyptian National Record with a time of 28.02(lcm).
Rettinghouse, a sophomore from Worland, Wyo. (Worland HS) had a season best score of 357.61 on way to winning the 3-mtr diving event. He also took second place on the 1-mtr with a score of 309.60 to help Wyoming upset number 14 Utah.
Other swimmer nominees: North Dakota's Jacob Wielinski swam a personal-best 15:34.46 in the 1650-yard freestyle event for sixth place. That time was the second-fastest time in UND history for the event. Also recorded a personal-best 4:01.60 time in the 400-yard IM, which broke his previous-best time by over four seconds. Seattle U's Tanner Schelling had a busy weekend, starting last Thursday by competing in the 50 meter freestyle at the U.S. Winter National Championships, posting a time of 24.15 seconds. Friday, he competed in the 100 meter breaststroke, finishing in 47th place in the preliminaries with a time of 1:04.95. Sunday, he returned to the King County Aquatic Center for the Short Course Time Trials, first posting a time of 45.69 seconds in the 100 freestyle. He then earned a lifetime-best time in the 200 breaststroke with a mark of 2:01.29. The 200 breaststroke time is the second-fastest in Seattle U swimming history. Wyoming's Gabe Rooker had a solid meet in helping Wyoming upset No. 14 Utah, having the top time in the 100 breast and in the 200 breast.
Other diver nominees: North Dakota's Clayton Metcalf qualified for a NCAA Zone Meet on Sunday on the platform dive with a 303.95 score to finish third. Metcalf also finished seventh (262.55) on the 3-meter and 1-meter (271.70). Metcalf's 1-meter score was the best of the season for him.