Indiana Sweeps Big Ten Swimmer of the Week Awards, Purdue Takes Diving Honors
Miranda Grana and Owen McDonald of Indiana took home Big Ten Swimmer of the Week Honors, announced on Wednesday.
All three honors were swept by the same schools. Daryn Wright and Jordan Rzepka of Purdue were the female and male divers of the week. Ohio State cornered the market on top freshmen, with Mila Nikanorov and Cornelius Jahn.
Indiana excelled at the Ohio State Invitational. Grana won the 100 backstroke in 51.18 seconds, the 100 butterfly in 51.10 and the 200 individual medley in 1:55.88. Her time of 1:51.36 in the 200 back made her the runner-up. She split 50.98 on butterfly to help the Hoosiers to an A cut in the in the 400 medley relay, one of four relay A cuts that the Mexican international was part of.
McDonald took part in five Indiana A-cut relays and won three individual events. His time of 44.93 in the 100 backstroke was second in the nation, as were his 1:38.07 in the 200 back and 1:40.86 in the 200 IM. The 200 back time lowered his program record and hit the A cut.
Wright picked up two gold medals at the Purdue Invitational among three Zone qualifying scores. The junior from Plainfield, Ind., finally downed the seven-year-old school mark on platform with a score of 390.45. She also downed Olympian Jessica Parratto’s pool mark. Wright scored 369.53 to win 3-meter.
Rzepka nabbed two program top-5 scores in winning both 3-meter and platform at the Purdue Invitational. The senior scored 502.50 on platform, just the fourth diver in program history to hit 500 points. His score of 456.53 on 3-meter was fourth in program history, and he finished second on 1-meter with the eighth-highest score in Purdue history at 414.30.
Jahn posted a time of 1:40.66 in the men’s 200 backstroke at the Ohio State invitational, taking a full second off a 10-year-old Buckeyes program record. The Germany international was third in that event and seventh in the 100 back in 46.15. He was part of a third-place 400 medley relay squad and fourth-place 800 free relay.
Nikanorov earned freshman of the week for the third time this year. The Colorado native won the 1,650 free at the Ohio State Invitational with an NCAA A cut of 15:49.26. She finished second in the 500 free with a time of 4:38.84.
