Swimcloud

Conference Champs Highlight Swimmers of the Week

A quartet of conference champions and a pair of Pac-12 swimmers lead this week's Counsilman-Hunsaker National Collegiate Swimmers-of-the-Week. Tom Shelds of California, Bonnie Brandon of Arizona, Keene State's Drew Ledwith, Susquehanna's Devin Lessard and Piotr Jachowicz and Carol Ana Azambuja from Wayne State all earned the honor based on their performances February 3-9.

Division I - Men - Tom Shields
Due to his efforts in an impressive victory by the Cal Golden Bears over #3 USC, Tom Shields is the Men’s Division I Swimmer of the week. Shields, the 2012 NCAA Swimmer of the Meet, was spectacular, swimming the butterfly leg of Cal's victorious 200 medley relay (1:26.88), and the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:34.68 before topping Milorad Cavic's former Spieker Complex record of 46.10 with a victory in the 100 fly (45.85). Shields also split a 42.21 in the anchor of the 400 free relay to out touch USC by .01 of a second in the victory.   


Division I - Women - Bonnie Brandon
The Women’s Division I swimmer of the week is Arizona Wildcat Freshmen Bonnie Brandon. Bonnie stepped up in a home dual meet against visiting Arizona State during the Wildcat Senior’s last meet. Brandon was able to sweep the distance freestyle events, winning the 500 free (4:49.52) and 1000 free (9:54.32). She also earned first in the 200 back, with her time of 2:00.74.

Division II - Women - Carol Azambuja
Wayne State Junior Carol Azambuja (Sao Paulo, Brazil), is your Women’s Division II Swimmer of the week. She capped off a stellar week by breaking meet and school records with her victory in the 100 freestyle. Her time of 50.09 lowered her varsity record in the event. She also posted individual victories in the 100 (54.74) back and 50 free (23.04). Following the meet, Azambuja, who earned four conference titles, also earned Women's Swimmer of the Year accolades in the GLIAC.

Division II - Men - Piotr Jachowicz
Wayne State Sophomore Piotr Jachowicz (Lodz, Poland) earned the Men's Swimmer of the Year award in the GLIAC and is your Men’s Division II Swimmer of the Week. Piotr placed first in two individual events at the championship while posting several impressive splits in relays. Jachowicz shattered conference and national records over the course of the week. Jachowicz broke a NCAA Division II record with his swim in the 200 IM on Thursday. Jachowicz, who finished with a time of 1:45.92, won the event by over two seconds. He also established a new conference record in the 100 breaststroke on Friday (53.76).

Division III - Women - Devin Lessard
After being named the Landmark Conference Female Swimmer of the Year for the second-straight season, Susquehanna senior Devin Lessard (Chestertown, Md.) hauled in another honor as she was named the Division III Women’s Swimmer of the Week. Lessard helped the Susquehanna women’s swimming program to its third-consecutive Landmark Conference Championship after tallying 803 points in the three-day meet at Marywood. On Friday, she won the 200 I.M. with a pool and conference record time of 2:08.95, a new PR and fastest mark in SU history. Lessard swam the third leg of the first-place 400 medley relay squad that set the pool and conference record time of 4:03.05, another all-time best mark at SU. She also swam the third leg on the first-place 200 medley relay team that registered a reading of 1:52.06. On Saturday, Lessard took first in the 400 I.M. with a NCAA DIII B cut time of 4:36.50. She swam the first leg on the winning 800 free relay team that captured first with a time of 8:05.28. On the meet’s final day, Lessard won the 200 fly with her first-place mark of 2:05.19, setting a pool record and earning another DIII B cut time in the process. In the final event, she swam the third leg of the winning 400 free relay team that won with a reading of 3:38.46, a new program best.

Division III - Men - Drew Ledwith
Keene State College Junior Drew Ledwith (Keene N.H.) had a sensational weekend, and as a result is your Men’s Division III Swimmer of the week. Individually, he posted NCAA 'A' cut qualifying times while setting meet and school records in the 500 free (4:27.29) and the 1,650 free (15:19.79). On Sunday, Ledwith shattered his own meet record in the 1,650 by almost 11 seconds. He also contributed to setting a meet and school record in the 800 free relay (6:40.59). Ledwith said it was an unreal experience. "This team and program climbed to an amazing level this weekend. Everyone stepped up," he said. "We knew going in that we'd be racing against the clock in many of the races and we were able to find away to pull it off," Ledwith added. " I've never been more excited than after we got an A cut in the 800 free relay. We've never done that before."







Counsilman-Hunsaker is a multi-service engineering planning and design firm that specializes in aquatic facilities. Counsilman-Hunsaker offers an extensive portfolio of services from existing facility evaluation to comprehensive concept development; from project visioning through design, engineering and construction administration to business management and aquatic operations.

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