Courtesy: UNLV
ARLINGTON, Texas– NM State’s Naomi Slee and Northern Arizona’s Grace Wesche have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women’s Swimmer and Diver of the Week, for the competition week ending on Nov.8. Air Force’s Wen Zhang and UNLV’s Dima Tereschenko have been named the Western Athletic Conference Men’s Swimmer and Diver of the Week, for the competition week ending on Nov. 8.
Slee, a freshman from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada posted the fastest times in the WAC last week in both the 1000 freestyle(10:19.36) and 500 freestyle (5:01.78 adjusted) as she took first place in both events during the Aggies’ home dual against NAU. Slee also helped lead the Aggie 400 free relay team to a second-place finish (3:31.75).
Wesche, a freshman from Flagstaff, Arizona, had two first place scores against New Mexico State. Wesche placed first on the 1m boards with a score of 274.50, and first on the 3m boards with a score of 265.88. Wesche placed second on the 1m boards against the University of New Mexico with a score of 262.95 and third on the 3m boards with a final score of 277.35.
Zhang, a senior from Dothan, Alabama, claimed victory in all five individual races at Grand Canyon on November 14-15. Zhang won the 100Y freestyle with a time of 44.10, more than three seconds quicker than the next swimmer. Zhang also won the 500Y freestyle with a time of 4:32.51 and the 1000Y freestyle with a time of 9:33.46, more than 13 seconds faster than the next swimmer. He won the 50Y freestyle with a time of 20.46 and the 200Y freestyle with a time of 1:38.83. Zhang was part of second place 400Y freestyle relay team that timed in at 3:04.82 and contributed 49 team points.
Tereschenko, a sophomore from East Brunswick, New Jersey, recorded two second-place finishes in meets at Utah and BYU. Tereschenko came within one-hundredth of a point of matching UNLV’s program record in a second-place finish in the 1-meter competition (321.23) at Utah. He added another second-place finish in the 1-meter event at BYU in a non-traditional 5-dive format and took fifth in the 3-meter competition (238.28) against the Utes and third in the 3-meter competition against the Cougars.
2022 TicketSmarterWAC Women’s and Men’s Swimming and DivingWeekly Awards
Women Swimming Player of the Week
- Naomi Slee, NM State (Nov. 9)
- Saana Liikonen, Jr., Northern Colorado (Oct.26)
Women Diving Player of the Week
- Grace Wesche, Northern Arizona (Nov. 9)
- Maggie Wesche, Fr., Northern Arizona (Oct.26)
Men Swimming Player of the Week
- Wen Zhang, Air Force (Nov. 9)
- Adnan Beji, So., UNLV (Oct. 26)
Men Diving Player of the Week
- Dima Tereschenko, UNLV (Nov. 9)
- Gael Jimenez, Fr., California Baptist (Oct.26)