WINTHROP, Mass. – Simmons College's Michaela Morris (Duxbury, Mass.) was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Rookie of the Week for a third time, it was announced today by the conference.
The honor marks the third straight reporting period that she has been named by the GNAC. She earned the accolade last week and also shared Co-Rookie honors with teammate Natalie Giraldi (Bedford, N.H.) for the week of December 1-7. She's also been named by the Eastern College Athletic Conference twice this season.
The award also marks the sixth straight reporting period that the Sharks have earned the honor in the GNAC. Giraldi also earned the GNAC honor for the weeks of October 27 to November 2, November 3-9 and November 10-16.
The first year swimmer won all three butterfly events that she entered during the week. Morris won the 200-yard butterfly with a mark of 2:22.99 to help the Sharks to a 140-94 victory over host University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on January 13. She capped the week by winning the 200-butterfly again in a tri-meet sweep over Colby-Sawyer College and Regis College on January 17 with a personal-best time of 2:21.66. She also took the 50-butterfly with a mark of 28.35. The rookie also tacked on a second-place showing in the 100-individual medley with a personal-record time of 1:06.38 vs. Colby-Sawyer and Regis to go with a third-place effort in her first-ever entry in the 400-individual medley at UMass Dartmouth, hitting the wall at 5:16.72. Morris was a big part of Simmons' winning medley relay teams, swimming the butterfly leg of the 200-relay at UMass Dartmouth helping the Sharks to a win with a time of 1:59.93 and the 400-relay in the 175-94 win over Colby-Sawyer and the 197-54 victory over Regis, contributing to a pool-record mark of 4:09.83.
The Duxbury High School product has been stellar in the butterfly for the Sharks, winning 13 of 19 events she has entered this season, including four wins in the 50, five in the 100 and four in the 200. The highlight of her season came during the GNAC Championships on December 6-7, where she won the 100-yard butterfly (1:02.25) and the 200-butterfly (2:23.99) and broke a conference and 16-year-old school record in the 50-butterfly with a time of 27.71. Morris was also a part of the Sharks' winning 400-medley and 200-medley relay squads with times of 4:10.25 and 1:56.09, respectively to set new GNAC records.
The Sharks have won four straight head-to-head meets and own a 9-2 record for the season. They return to action on Saturday, January 24 when they host Western New England University at 12:00 p.m.