Press Release Courtesy of CAA, Tim McDonnell: Swimming/Diving Weekly Honors – Oct. 26
RICHMOND, Va. (October 26, 2016) – On Wednesday afternoon, Drexel swept the weekly Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) women’s swimming and diving awards and earned another honor on the men’s side, along with William & Mary, to headline the third weekly accolades of the 2016-17 season.
Dragon seniors Rachel Bernhardt (Swimmer of the Week) and Madison Kramer (Diver of the Week) obtained the respective women’s weekly nods. William & Mary freshman Chris Balbo won his first career Men’s Swimmer of the Week honor and Drexel freshman Anthony Musciano picked up the Men’s Diver of the Week award – also the first of his career.
Bernhardt opened her senior campaign with two individual victories in her go-to events – the 100 and 200-yard breaststrokes – and also swam a leg on DU’s winning, 200-medley relay squad that finished first in 1:44.77. The defending CAA Women’s Swimmer of the Year timed 1:02.51 in the 100-breast and 2:17.57 in the 200, with her 100-yard time breaking the Villanova pool record. The Dragon women beat La Salle and lost to Villanova at the Philly Relays over the weekend.
Kramer finished first on both boards, scoring 250.00 on the 1-meter and 266.50 on the 3-meter to claim gold in the season-opener.
Balbo impressed in two individual freestyle events over the weekend as the Tribe competed in a quad meet at Virginia Tech. The freshman swam 4:35.91 in the 500-yard free, a new CAA-high for the season and then timed 16:07.24 in the 1,650-yard free one day later. Balbo also swam in the 200-yard fly and touched the wall in 1:51.44, which is second currently among CAA swimmers for the event this fall and second behind last week’s Swimmer of the Week, Jack Saunderson of Towson.
Musciano performed well in his first collegiate meet for the Dragons, placing second on the 1 and 3-meter boards. He scored 265.90 and 237.65, respectively.
AB