WINTHROP, Mass. – Simmons University's Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Week for the week of January 20-26, it was announced today by the league.
List earns the honor for the second time this season after being tabbed for the week of November 11-17. The accolade marks the eighth time out of 11 reporting periods that a Shark has been recognized as the week's top athlete. List joins teammates Áine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.), who have both been cited three times as the top weekly athlete for the GNAC. The trio mark the first time in school history that Simmons has had three student-athletes earn Athlete of the Week multiple times during the same season. Scholand was tabbed for the weeks of October 28 to November 3, November 14-20 and December 2-8, while Manjikian was chosen for the weeks of October 21-27, November 4-10 and January 6-12.
List dominated for the Sharks in a 180-120 road-victory over host Mount Holyoke College on January 25 with three first-place finishes in addition to helping Simmons to a relay win. The senior scored 27 points with wins in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle to go with a victory in the 100-yard backstroke. A graduate of Bedford High School, List turned in a time of 26.04 in the 50-yard freestyle, before winning the 100-yard race with a mark of 57.57 and adding a triumph in the 100-yard backstroke with a clip of 1:04.69. The Nursing major capped the meet by swimming the anchor leg of the 200-yard freestyle and combining on a winning time of 1:45.56.
The Co-Captain has been brilliant this season placing among the top four 17 times, spanning every dual meet she has competed in, while winning nine races. List has touched the wall first in six different events this season, claiming in the top time in the 50, 100 and 200-yard freestyle in addition to wins in the 50 and 100-yard backstroke in addition to a victory in the 50-yard butterfly. She has been a staple on the Sharks relay squads, helping the Fenway school to three wins in the 200-yard freestyle relay as well as a triumph in the 200-medley relay.
List has been named to the GNAC All-Conference squad twice during her career and has earned All-New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association status for the maximum seven times in each of her three years at the Championship meet. She won the 100-yard freestyle individual crown at the NEISDA title meet as a sophomore. List has racked up 67 top-three finishes in dual-meets or final heats, while owning 31 victories.
Simmons returns to the water on Friday, January 31 when it competes on the first day of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship at the Boston Sports Institute at 6:00 p.m. in Wellesley, Mass. The Sharks divers compete on the three-meter board in the conference title meet on the same night at the Holmes Sports Center Natatorium on the campus of Simmons in Boston at 6:30 p.m.