WINTHROP, Mass. – Simmons College's Miriam Swisher (Albuquerque, N.M.) was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Week for a league-high fifth time, it was announced today by the conference.
The honor marks the seventh straight reporting period that the Sharks have earned the honor with senior Hillary Wong (Quincy, Mass.) being named for the week of October 20-26 and Swisher being tabbed four times for the weeks of October 27 to November 2, November 3-9, November 10-16 and December 1-7. Sophomore Shylee Stewart (Eastham, Mass.) was selected last week.
Swisher was undefeated for the week in her individual events, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 26.35 vs. host University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on January 13 as part of a 140-94 victory in addition to winning the 200-backstroke with a personal-best time of 2:16.70, the 50-backstroke with a time of 28.66 and the 100-individual medley with a personal-record mark of 1:05.41 in a tri-meet against Colby-Sawyer College and Regis College on January 17. The sophomore also led Simmons to win both medley relays this week; swimming the freestyle leg of the 200-medley relay at UMass Dartmouth to contribute to a winning time of 1:59.93 and the opening backstroke leg of the 400-medley relay in a 175-94 win over Colby-Sawyer and a 197-54 victory over Regis as part of a pool-record effort of 4:09.83.
Swisher has been dominant this season, winning 26 of 28 individual events that she has entered, including all seven 50-yard freestyle races she's competed in. The La Cueva High School product was the top scorer for the Sharks at the GNAC Championship on December 6-7 with 36 points after winning all four events that she entered, while setting three GNAC and two pool records. The sophomore won the 50-yard freestyle (24.40), 200-freestyle with a GNAC record (1:57.57) and set GNAC, pool and school records in the 50-backstroke (27.36) and the 100-freestyle (51.75), while also making the NCAA qualifier 'B' cut. In addition, she was also a part of Simmons' 400-medley relay team that set a GNAC record with a time of 4:10.25 and helped the Sharks win the 200-free relay as well with a mark of 1:42.64.
The second-year swimmer has been exceptional throughout her career at Simmons, winning 52 of 64 individual events, including 12 of 13 50-yard backstroke races and 20 of 22 50-yard freestyle events. Swisher also owns five individual school records and has been part of five team relay marks, while owning four conference standards and three Holmes Sports Center Natatorium 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.