WINTHROP, Mass. – Simmons University's Áine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Week for the week of February 10-16, it was announced today by the league.
Scholand earns the honor for a conference-high fourth time to give the Sharks nine athlete of the week award winners in 12 reporting periods. Scholand was previously recognized for the weeks of December 2-8, November 14-20 and October 28 to November 3. Junior Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) has been tabbed for the weeks of October 21-27, November 4-10 and January 6-12 and senior Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) has been chosen for the weeks of January 20-26 and November 11-17. It's the first time in school history that the team has had three student-athletes named multiple times during the same season.
Scholand was the top scorer at the New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association Championship for the third straight year. She helped Simmons to a second-place team finish at host University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I. on February 13-16 with three individual first place finishes. The senior also contributed to a trio of relay wins for the Sharks and a second-place showing to attain All-NEISDA status in the maximum seven events. Scholand earned the Bruce Hutchinson Award as the Swimmer of the Meet for the second time in three years to join Miriam Swisher (2013-17) as the only student-athletes in school annals to earn the honor more than once. The Sandia High School product's trio of victories make her the only swimmer in school history to win all three of her individual events in three different years. The New Mexico native won the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:05.81 to win by more than 84 seconds and eclipse the NCAA "B" cut qualifying standard. She also won the 500-yard freestyle with a "B" cut time of 4:59.30 to win by more than 21 seconds. Scholand won her third distance event with a mark of 10:15.75 to capture the 1000-yard freestyle by more than 48 seconds. The Co-Captain opened the winning 800-yard freestyle for the Sharks and helped them post a time of 7:57.48 to go with a winning mark of 3:35.32 in the 400-yard freestyle relay that she swam third in. She again swam third in the 200-yard freestyle relay to contribute to the team's first-place time of 1:39.26 and helped Simmons place second in the 400-yard medley relay as the opening backstroke leg to combine on a time of 4:02.78.
The Neuroscience and Behavior major has been one of the most dominant distance swimmers in the nation this season, posting an undefeated record in all freestyle races more than 500 yards, including three entries in the 1650-yard freestyle and seven starts in the 1000-yard freestyle. Scholand has also won five of six 500-yard freestyle races as part of 20 wins for the year and 25 top-three finishes. In addition, she has three first-place efforts in the 100-yard backstroke, including a victory at the GNAC Championship two weeks ago to go with a win in the 200-yard freestyle and a second-place showing in the 100-yard butterfly at the conference title meet. In addition to her GNAC honors this season, Scholand was named the NEISDA Co-Athlete of the Week for the week of November 4-10.
For her career Scholand has been named All-America in each of the last two seasons, earning First Team accolades as a sophomore and Honorable Mention recognition last year. She has also been selected the GNAC Women's Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Year in both years with the Sharks and is the only competitor in school history to compete in three different events at the NCAA Championship in one season. Scholand owns three individual school records in the 1650, 1000 and 500-yard freestyle and helped Simmons establish a school standard in the 800-yard freestyle relay, while owning three all-time individual NEISDA Championship standards and five individual GNAC Championship marks.
The Sharks will look to compete at the NCAA Championship for the third straight year, pending an invitation for any of their competitors to advance to Greensboro, N.C. on March 18.