WINTHROP, Mass. – Simmons University's Kerry Fleming (Northampton, Mass.) was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Week for the week of February 18-24, it was announced today by the league.
Fleming earns the award for a conference-high third time this season after being named for the consecutive weeks of January 14-20 and January 7-13. She is the fifth different Shark to receive the accolade this season, joining sophomore Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.), who was chosen for the week of November 5-11, junior Aine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) for the week of October 29-November 4, senior Jason Erichsen (Banks, Ore.) was tabbed for the week of October 22-28 and senior Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) earned the honor for the week of October 15-21.
The senior helped Simmons win its second straight New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association Championship from February 21-24 after winning seven medals at the four-day meet. Fleming was the only Simmons swimmer to medal in all seven of her events, including five gold medallions. The four-year standout won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:08.26 and placed first in the 200-yard freestyle with a personal-record time of 1:55.79. She just missed her third gold when she finished second in the 100-yard freestyle with a mark of 53.07. Fleming helped the Sharks shatter the NEISDA Championship and Open record as well as the school standard in the 800-yard freestyle relay by more than five seconds with a time of 7:40.31. The relay win was the first of three freestyle relay victories that Fleming was a part of. She also helped Simmons win the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay with respective times of 1:38.12 and 3:33.40. In addition, Fleming earned a bronze medal, helping the Sharks place third in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 4:05.15.
For the season, the Public Relations/Marketing Communications major has been one of the most dynamic competitors on the team as well as the conference, winning nine different events and 16 overall, including the 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000-yard freestyle, the 100 and 200-yard backstroke, the 50-yard butterfly and the 100-yard individual medley. Fleming has turned in 22 top-three finishes for the year and posted six personal-record times, including a GNAC record-mark of 2:07.79 to win the 200-yard backstroke and a time of 24.85 to place first in the 50-yard freestyle at the GNAC Championship in early February. The four-year standout has also been a key contributor in relay events for Simmons, helping it to a dozen victories in 2018-19.
Fleming has enjoyed tremendous success during her tenure on the Fenway campus, winning 52 events, while finishing among the top three 86 times. She has been named All-Conference twice and All-New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association in 13 individual events during her career.
The Sharks finished the season with an 11-2 record in dual meet action and have registered double-digit victories in six straight seasons in addition to winning their 15th straight GNAC crown and 17 of the last 18.
Simmons will compete again on March 20 when Scholand competes for the Sharks at the NCAA Championship in Greensboro, N.C.