WINTHROP, Mass. – Simmons University's Aine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Athlete of the week for the week of October 29 to November 4, it was announced today by the league.
The honor award marks the third straight week that a Shark has received the honor with senior Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) being tabbed last week and senior Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) earning the accolade for the week of October 15-21.
Scholand dominated a quad-dual meet, featuring host Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Brandeis University, Babson College and Smith College at the WPI Invitational on November 2, by winning all three events that she entered and helping Simmons to a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The junior won the 1000-yard freestyle by over 21 seconds with a time of 10:46.28 for the Sharks, before adding a first-place showing in the 200-yard freestyle with a mark of 1:59.95. The Sandia High School product tacked on a 10-plus second win in the 500-yard freestyle on a time of 5:17.26, before helping Simmons win the 200-yard freestyle relay to cap the meet. Junior Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) swam the opening leg, followed by senior Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.), sophomore Olivia Walz (Natick, Mass.) and the anchor by Scholand for a time of 1:44.31.
Scholand has been outstanding this season, winning six of seven events she has entered with a trio of wins each in the 1000 and 200-yard freestyle to go with a second-place effort in the 100-yard backstroke. The Neuroscience and Behavior major has also helped the Sharks to a pair of wins in the 200-yard freestyle relay and a victory in the 200-yard medley relay this season.
Scholand has already established herself as one of the best swimmers in the nation after earning First Team All-America honors last season, following a second-place national finish in the 1650-yard freestyle with a school-record time of 16:51.01 in addition to being named a College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America Scholar All-American. She also finished 11th in the 500-yard freestyle with a new school mark of 4:56.76 at the NCAA Championships. Scholand was named the 2017-18 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Year and was also tabbed the Simmons College Athlete of the Year. In addition, she was named the Bruce Hutchinson Swimmer of the Meet at the New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association Championship in February of 2018 after breaking three school and meet records to capture a trio of gold medals in her individual events, while helping Simmons win the 800 and 400-yard freestyle relay events in addition to a second-place showing in the 200-yard freestyle. In just her second year of collegiate swimming, Scholand obliterated the conference record in the 1650 by nearly 50 seconds and the pool record by 14-plus seconds. Scholand also set GNAC and pool records in the 500-yard and 200-yard freestyle, respectively, as part of a 74-point tally to tie for the most points scored in the championship meet for the Sharks in December.
Simmons is currently 6-1 on the season in dual meet competition and will be in action again on Saturday, November 10 when it travels to Wellesley, Mass. to take on Wellesley College at 1:00 p.m.