Tennessee’s senior day celebration produced two senior SEC Swimmers of the Week. Brad deBorde, whose Gator men beat the Vols in Tennessee, was named Men’s Swimmer of the Week while Lindsay Gendron was named women’s Swimmer of the Week after leading the Lady Vols to an upset of the Florida women.
DeBorde won the 50 free and 100 free against Tennessee, going 19.96 and 44.47 to lead the Gator men to their third straight undefeated season. He also led off the winning 400 free relay in an even-faster 44.26. Gendron won four times against Florida, most notably beating Florida’s stud Elizabeth Beisel to win the 200 free in 1:45.59. She also won the 500 free (4:44.63) and went a lifetime-best 53.60 to win the 100 fly before anchoring the winning 400 free relay with a 48-second split.
Kentucky’s Greg Ferrucci was named men’s Diver of the Week after winning both diving contests at the Wildcats’ senior day against Cincinnati. Ferrucci set a pair of season-best scores (398.25 on 1-meter, 374.33 on 3-meter), including the second-best 3-meter score in the conference this season.
The other Diver of the Week award went to Ann-Perry Blank of Georgia. Blank smashed school and pool records with her 1-meter score of 327.98 against Alabama. She also took second on 3-meter to help the Bulldogs finish an undefeated season of their own with 10 wins and a tie with Texas A&M.
Freshmen of the Week were Auburn’s Joe Patching and LSU’s Kara Kopcso. Patching won twice in Auburn’s trouncing of South Carolina. He took the 100 back with a 48.35 and the 200 IM in 1:49.95. Kopcso won three races at the Houston Quad meet, where LSU topped all three other contenders. Kopcso set lifetime-bests of 1:49.01 in the 200 free and 2:00.38 in the 200 IM and also won the 400 IM.
DeBorde wins this award with his mediocre swims? Having trouble seeing how a 44.4 could win this award.
Agreed. Upsetting to see him swim so slow in his senior season. Looks like another year where we can only depend on his 50 free.
These are dual meets, and he is a taper swimmer. He went a 43.2 on three days rest at the Ohio State Invite.
lol three days rest
i guess you’re on the team and can confirm that it wasn’t three days rest?
I have to agree with swimkid here, DeBorde is good but definitely doesn’t deserve SEC athlete of the week.