RedHawks Sweep MAC Swimmer of the Week Awards
12/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Dec. 9, 2010
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Junior James Beres (Columbus, Ohio) and sophomore Leah Thornton (Helena, Ala.) have swept the Mid-American Conference athlete of the week awards in their sport the league office announced on Wednesday, Dec. 8.
Beres swept the Miami invitational, winning from both the one- and three-meter boards. On the one-meter, he beat his closest competitor by over 60 points with a 388.30, setting new MAC, pool and Miami records. He followed that up with a dominant performance on the three-meter, posting a score of 423.45, setting new records for the MAC, Miami and the Miami Invitational. Both scores also qualified him for the NCAA Zone Championships at the end of the season.
Thornton helped lead Miami to the 2010 Miami Invitational team championship with three individual and two relay wins. Thornton took first in the 100-yard backstroke (54.94), 200-yard backstroke (1:57.83) and 200-yard butterfly (2:01.24), setting new school records in each event. Additionally, she set a new meet record in the 200-yard backstroke and earned NCAA Championship "B" cuts in both backstroke events. Thornton also led off the winning 200- and 400-yard medley relay teams with times of 1:42.21 and 3:45.00, respectively. Her 200 medley team earned another NCAA "B" time standard. She also finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a personal-best of 55.57 and 14th in the 100-yard freestyle with another personal-best of 52.22.
Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams are done with competition for the first half of the season. The teams return to action January 12 against Evansville at the Corwin Nixon Aquatic Center in Oxford.
Players Mentioned
