Kelly Ball Receives MAC Swimmer of the Week Honor
1/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 21, 2003
Senior Kelly Ball (Granger, IN/Penn) became the second Miami swimmer in consecutive weeks to be named Mid-American Conference Swimmer of the Week after placing first in four races over the weekend.
Ball came from behind to win the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:52.42 over Wright State on Friday evening in Oxford, Ohio. Ball then won his second race of the evening when he touched the wall in 1:41.38 for another come from behind victory, this time in the 200-yard freestyle.
On Saturday, Ball touched the wall first in the 200-yard IM and the 500-yard freestyle with times of 1:56.92 and 4:40.53, respectively, over swimming power Kenyon College. Ball took the first victory by only one second and won the distance event by six seconds.
The senior's most important swim this weekend might not have been an individual win. Swimming final leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay, the senior was able to help Miami dramatically defeat Wright State on the last event of the evening for the RedHawk's third win of the season.
Ball has now won 12 individual events on the 2002-03 campaign with his four individual wins over the weekend. Ball, one of four seniors on the squad, won his first seven races that he competed in this season.
Ball is no stranger to MAC awards, the butterfly and freestyle swimmer earned first-team all-MAC last season and second-team all-MAC during 2000-01 along with academic all-MAC honors the past two seasons.
Sophomore diver Peter Donohue (Cincinnati, OH/Turpin) earned MAC Swimmer of the Week on Jan. 14 to give the men's team two straight winners. Miami's women's swimming and diving team won two straight awards earlier in the year with junior Casey Mangano (Cincinnati, OH/St. Ursula) and junior Amy Miranda (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy) pulling in the awards on Nov. 20 and 26, respectively.