DENVER - Grand Canyon's Estela Davis Ortiz and CSU Bakersfield's Carlee Burks have been named Western Athletic Conference Swimmer and Diver of the week, respectively, for Jan. 4-10.
Davis Ortiz, a sophomore from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico/CBTIS 114 (Bowling Green) won four events (3 individual and 1 relay) against BYU and NM State. Davis Ortiz's 400 IM time had a CollegeSwimmimg.com performance score 693.0 and was the highest ranked swim in the WAC this week. The sophomore swam the 100 back with a time of 56.52 and was the 2nd highest ranked swim in the WAC this week according to CollegeSwimming.com.
Burks, a junior from Bakersfield, Calif. (Centennial HS) dominated the competition en route to victories on both boards against UC San Diego, the No. 2 ranked squad in NCAA Division II. Burks' 3-meter score of 337.28 not only defeated the next closest competitor by 57 points, but also increased the Bakersfield native's WAC lead by 55 points. The mark, which would have won the WAC by almost 20 points last season, helped Burks smash CSUB's 11-year-old school record. The junior went on to win the 1-meter competiton as well with a score of 301.50, another personal best. Burks moved from third all-time for the ‘Runners in the event to second and was just two points off the school record.
Other swimmer nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Paola Hernandez paced the ‘Runner women in the quad-meet hosted by UC San Diego, the No. 2 ranked squad in NCAA Division II. Hernandez earned a win in the 200 IM (2:07.55), posting her fastest dual meet time this year. The native of Lompoc, Calif. went on to finish second in the 200 free with a time of 1:53.39, again, the fastest dual meet time of her season. Hernandez also led the 200 medley relay team to a second-place finish with a time of 1:47.70, CSUB's second-best mark of the year, with a leadoff leg of 27.46. Northern Arizona's Hayley Edmond had her hand in four event wins in NAU's dual meet victory over Oregon State on Friday, marking just the second all-time win against the Beavers. She was NAU's top finisher in both backstrokes during NAU's Pac-12 double-dual against nationally-ranked Arizona and Oregon State, placing fifth overall in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.45 and fourth overall in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:07.03. She paced the Lumberjacks in both events in which they went one-two-three in order of finish when looking at the results specifically with OSU. Edmond also swam first leg of NAU's third-place overall (and first-place versus Oregon State) 200 medley relay team and the anchor leg of the 200 freestyle relay team that bested all of its competitors with a first-place overall finish. Seattle U's Blaise Wittenauer-Lee won two individual events each day as Seattle University was victorious in back-to-back meets at Whitworth University last weekend. Friday night, she swam the breaststroke leg of the 400 medley relay, helping the team win the event in a total time of 3:58.14. Wittenauer-Lee touched the wall first in both the 100 backstroke (59.83) and the 100 breaststroke (1:04.85). Saturday, she dominated the 200 individual medley, winning by over eight seconds with a time of 2:06.75, followed by a convincing victory in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.67 seconds, over three seconds quicker than her nearest competitor. Finally, she led off the 200 freestyle relay to a time of 1:39.72. She moved up to 12th in the WAC performance list for the 200 IM while still holding the top spot in the 400 IM list and staying in the top five in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke lists.
Other diver nominees: Grand Canyon's Menna Elmidany placed fourth on the 1M with a score of 246.30 and fifth on the 3M with a score of 235.45. NM State's MacKinna Hauff finished third in the 1-meter dive with a score of 248.48 and finished fourth in the 3-meter dive with a score of 258.00. In the meet against Grand Canyon and BYU, Hauff won the 1-meter dive with a score of 263.45 and finished third in the 3-meter dive with a score of 253.4. Northern Arizona's Alexa Geiger was the Lumberjacks' top finisher in diving on Friday versus Arizona and Oregon State, placing second overall on 3-meter and winning the 1-meter event in a meet featuring divers from No. 7 ranked Arizona. On 3-meter, Geiger placed second with a score of 267.98, finishing only behind Arizona's Sally Hackett. Geiger then proceeded to post the top 1-meter score of 266.40 leading three Lumberjacks in the top four.