…The Big Ten handed out their “Medal of Honor” on Thursday, and 4 swimmers were included in the list of 24. One male and one female athlete from each member institution’s graduating class is given the award on the basis of having “attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work.” From the conferences perspective, this is effectively each school’s student-athlete of the year award. The aquatic award winners were Margaux Farrell from Indiana, Dan Madwed from Michigan,Erin Thomas from Penn State, and Andrew Elliott from Ohio State. The Swimming & Diving teams actually swept the awards for the Buckeyes, as diver Bianca Alvarez took the women’s award. This group has been highly recognized this season – Elliott was first-team Academic All-American and the Elite 89 Award winner (for having the highest GPA at the NCAA Championships, and Farrell received the conference’s Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award, given to one male and one female to pursue a postgraduate degree. See the full list of award winners here…
…According to the Deccan Herald, 11 athletes, including three swimmers, are appealing suspensions received for the banned substance methylhexaneamine. They are claiming irregularities in the handling and chain-of-custody of the samples, the testing procedures, and even how so many athletes would suddenly test positive for a largely-unknown substance at the same time. The hearings have been delayed until September 19th (after the Olympics) by a National Anti-Doping Panel. The Indian swimmers involved in the case are Richa Mishra, Amar Muralidharan and Jyotsana Pansare…