Big East News Articles

Pittsburgh’s Lee and Villanova’s Smith Earn Swimming and Diving Weekly Awards

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Junior Veronica Lee of Pittsburgh was named women’s swimming and diving BIG EAST Athlete of the Week and senior Ben Smith of Villanova earned men’s swimming and diving BIG EAST Athlete of the Week honors in the second weekly awards of the 2012-13 season.

Lee claimed the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke in a 155-131 loss against Virginia on Oct. 28. The junior finished in 1:05.52 in the 100 and recorded a time of 2:18.22 in the 200. Lee also grabbed a first-place finish in the 200 individual medley with a mark of 2:08.49.

Smith grabbed two first-place finishes in the 100 and 200 butterfly last week in a loss against La Salle. The senior finished the 100 in 51.51 seconds and posted a time of 1:55.31 in the 200. He was also a member of the 200 freestyle relay team that finished second with a time of 1:28.24.

The 2012-13 Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week honors will be awarded throughout the season when at least half of the teams are participating. The next weekly awards will be announced on Nov. 6.

Notes From Around the League:

The Louisville women’s 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relay teams are ranked in the top-10 in the NCAA. The 200 and 400 free relay squads have the ninth best times in their respective events with times of 1:34.57 and 3:23.51, respectively. The 800 free relay team has the 10^th best time in the nation with a mark of 7:33.68.

Freshmen Devon Cameron and Reilly O’Connell of Providence rank ninth and 10^th in the country in the 400 freestyle with times of 4:37.89 and 4:41.30, respectively.

Sophomore Kelly O’Neil of Providence is ninth in the nation in the 800 freestyle with a mark of 9:28.23.

Notre Dame sophomore Emma Reaney has the fifth-best time in the 100 breaststroke with a mark of 1:01.31 and sixth best in NCAA in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:01.81.

Louisville junior Joao De Lucca ranks among the nation’s best in the 100 freestyle. He is third among all NCAA leaders with a time of 44:04.

Louisville freshman Kelsi Worrell has the seventh-best time in the country in the 100 butterfly with a 54.21-second mark.

Seton Hall sophomore diver Ben Mitchell broke school records on Oct. 16 and Oct. 18. He recorded the highest six-dive mark in school history on the 1-meter board with a score of 322.88 in a meet against Montclair State and set a school record in 3-meter diving with 285.45 points against Rider.

Louisville men ranked No. 16 nationally in the 10/23 CSCAA coaches’ poll.

Top BIG EAST Times:

Event	Women	Men
50 Freestyle	Kelsi Worrell, Louisville – 23.27	Joao De Lucca, Louisville – 20.57
100 Freestyle	Kelsi Worrell, Louisville – 50.45	Joao De Lucca, Louisville – 44.04
200 Freestyle	Suzanne Bessire, Notre Dame – 1:50.71	Frank Dyer, Notre Dame – 1:38.48
400 Freestyle	Devon Cameron, Providence – 4:37.89	Justin Tse, Providence – 4:16.83
500 Freestyle	Kelsey Herbst, Pittsburgh – 4:55.15	Bryan Draganosky, Louisville – 4:33.23
800 Freestyle	Kelly O’Neill, Providence – 9:28.23	John Nash, Providence – 9:55.43
1000 Freestyle	Roxanne Tammadge, Villanova – 10:05.57	Bryan Draganosky, Louisville – 9:21.14
1650 Freestyle	Abigail Chin, Louisville – 17:04.37	Bryan Draganosky, Louisville – 15:32.73
100 Backstroke	Kimberly Holden, Notre Dame – 55:06	Adam Maczewski, Pittsburgh – 49.50
200 Backstroke	Kimberly Holden, Notre Dame – 2:00.64	Juan Lopez, Louisville – 1:49.11
100 Breaststroke	Emma Reaney, Notre Dame – 1:01.31	Michael Haefner, Louisville – 55.80
200 Breaststroke	Emma Reaney, Notre Dame – 2:14.38	Michael Haefner, Louisville – 2:02.85
100 Butterfly	Kelsi Worrell, Louisville – 54.21	Kourosh Ahani, Pittsburgh – 49.29
200 Butterfly	Tanja Kylliainen, Louisville – 2:00.61	Jonathan Williamson, Notre Dame – 1:49.61
200 IM	Emma Reaney, Notre Dame – 2:01.81	William Bass, Notre Dame – 1:51.54
400 IM	Tanja Kylliainen, Louisville – 4:16.72	Colin Babcock, Notre Dame – 3:59.92
200 Freestyle Relay	Louisville – 1:34.57	Pittsburgh – 1:23.96
400 Freestyle Relay	Louisville – 3:23.51	Louisville – 2:57.71
800 Freestyle Relay	Louisville – 7:33.68
200 Medley Relay	Louisville – 1:44.81	Louisville – 1:30.60
400 Medley Relay	Notre Dame – 3:43.80

This Week in BIG EAST Swimming and Diving:

11/02/12	Villanova, Georgetown at Rutgers	4:00 p.m.
	Purdue at Notre Dame	5:00 p.m.
11/03/12	Villanova, Georgetown at Rutgers	10:00 a.m.
	Pittsburgh at Cincinnati	11:00 a.m.
	Providence at Seton Hall	2:00 p.m.