BOSTON— Binghamton University’s David Holmes (Doncaster, England/Derby University) and Meghan Sackett (Cockeyscille, Md./Dulaney/Maryland) have been named the Men’s and Women’s Swimming Performers of the Week, respectively, while Boston University’s Brian Lawler (San Luis Obispo, Calif./Laguna Hills) and Ashley Houghton (Frederick, Md./Urbana/Pittsburgh) have been named the Men’s and Women’s Diving Performers of the Week, respectively. The awards were announced Tuesday (November 8). (Week 2 recap)
Holmes swam the final leg of 400 free relay that was the deciding race in the Bearcats’ 123-120 win over defending America East Champion UMBC on Saturday. In that race, Holmes swam the last leg approximately a second and a half faster than his next quickest competitor to touch the wall in 3:11.73 for the victory in the race and meet. He also won the 200 free in 1:40.43. Another critical moment in the Bearcats upset was in the 200 fly, when Holmes touched the wall in 1:52.68, four thousands of a second faster than UMBC’s Geza Szabo. Had he not won that event than Binghamton would not have been in the position to win the meet. Binghamton men’s team improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 against conference foes after defeating two-time defending America East Champion UMBC for the first time.
Sackett shattered UMBC’s 16-year-old 1,000-free record at Seton Hall by nearly 12 seconds with a time of 10:04.92, defeating her closest competition by nearly 30 seconds. Sackett also won the 500-free at Seton Hall and the 200-free at Binghamton. She has won every individual event in which she has competed this season, for a total of 11 individual victories.
Lawler broke a pair of school records this weekend in Boston U.’s 149-69 win over UNH. He had a score of 337.80 in the one-meter diving event. He bested teammate Alex Caesar by 132 points. In the three-meter event, Lawler scored a terrific 382.05, 178 points better than Caesar. Lawler scored 18 team points for the Terriers to aid in their rout of the Wildcats. Lawler’s one-meter performance broke the school record held by Greg Voloshin, who scored 324.60 in 2000. His three-meter performance broke Mark Graham’s mark of 352.35, set in 1980.
Houghton swept the diving events at both Binghamton and Seton Hall this weekend with a score of 279.75 on the three-meter and 264.90 on the one-meter dive. She has won both diving events at all five of UMBC’s dual meets this season, and she has qualified for NCAA’s.