Dec. 12, 2011

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. -- The Patriot League announced its weekly awards for Dec. 5-11 in indoor track & field and swimming & diving Monday.

Three Patriot League teams were in action over the weekend in indoor track and field and Lehigh walked away with three of six weekly awards after a strong performance at the Fast Times Before Finals at Lehigh, while four student-athletes were recognized for postseason-qualifying marks.

There was just one meet in swimming and diving last week, but it was a big one. It was the annual Star Meet between Army and Navy, with the Mids capturing the sweep at Crandall Pool at West Point Thursday evening. Three Patriot League records fell during the competition, with Navy junior Laura Gorinski setting the marks and rewriting other record books as well en route to capturing the Female Swimmer of the Week award. It was not a clean sweep of the weekly awards for Navy, however, as Army junior Chris Nguyen took both the one- and three-meter diving competitions to capture the Male Diver of the Week nod. Overall, Navy's performance was a dominant showing, as the Mids won their 21st consecutive meet against the Black Knights on the men's side, while the women set a total of 28 records, hit five NCAA B-cuts and defeated their rivals for the 23rd straight year. The schedule now takes an extended break until early January.

Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Weekly Awards

MALE TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
JEROME RUDOLPH, LAFAYETTE Sr., Lithonia, Ga.
Rudolph finished in second place in the 60-meter dash with an IC4A-qualifying time of 6.98 seconds at the New Year's Invitational at Princeton. Rudolph's 60 dash time was a personal best. He also placed seventh in the long jump with a distance of 22-4.5.

FEMALE TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
KATELYN HARTNETT, HOLY CROSS Sr., Danvers, Mass.
Hartnett won the 800 at the Hartford Open with a time of 2:16.78, qualifying for the New England Championships. This is the second Track Athlete of the Week award for Hartnett in her career.

MALE FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
STEPHEN TUTUNJIAN, LEHIGH Sr., Shrewsbury, Mass.
Tutunjian recorded an IC4A-qualifying mark in the triple jump at the Fast Times Before Finals meet Saturday at Lehigh. His distance of 48-4 also earned him first place in the event. Tutunjian, who wins his third career Field Athlete of the Week award, also finished first in the long jump (22-6.5).

FEMALE FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
E'LANA LEMON, LEHIGH Jr., West Orange, N.J.
Lemon finished first in the weight throw at the Fast Times Before Finals meet at Lehigh an ECAC-qualifying distance of 57-11. This is her second straight Field Athlete of the Week award of the season and sixth of her career.

MALE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
GREGORY CALDWELL, LEHIGH Fr., Jackson, N.J.
Caldwell finished first in the 800 at the Fast Times Before Finals with a time of 1:59.17. He also helped the 1,600 relay team finish fourth with a time of 8:20.84.

FEMALE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
FIORELLA JOHNSON, HOLY CROSS Fr., Redding, Conn.
Johnson finished fourth in the 400 with a time of 59.26 seconds and 24th in the 200 with a time of 27.19 seconds. Her 400 time qualified her for the New England Championships.

HONORABLE MENTION
RACHEL PENA, LAFAYETTE So., Ridgefield Park, N.J.
Pena finished second in the weight throw with an ECAC-qualifying distance of 54-10 at the New Year's Invitational at Princeton. She also finished second in the shot put with a distance of 41-8.5.

Patriot League Swimming and Diving Weekly Awards

MALE SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
MAC ANTHONY, NAVY Sr., Allentown, Pa.
Mac Anthony ran his career record to 7-0 in individual events during dual competition against Army after posting victories in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles in Thursday's meet. He posted a time of 1:37.20 to win the 200 free, which won by 1.76 seconds and exceeded the NCAA B-cut mark. Anthony's time of 4:29.48 in the 500 free was 5.77 seconds faster than the second-place showing. In addition, Anthony swam the fastest anchor leg in aiding the Mids to their win in the 400 free relay (3:01.57). Anthony's efforts helped Navy post a 186-114 win at Crandall Pool at West Point, N.Y.

FEMALE SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
LAURA GORINSKI, NAVY Jr., Greensburg, Pa.
Gorinski put forth quite possibly the finest effort thus far in her collegiate career, breaking four meet records, four Crandall Pool marks, four Navy records and three Patriot League marks while surpassing three individual NCAA B-cut times and participating in a relay that exceeded a fourth. She set four records in all three of her individual victories, clocking a 1:00.72 in the 100-yard breast, a 2:11.10 in the 200 breast and a 2:00.33 in the 200 individual medley. She blew away the field in the 200 breast, winning by 10.4 seconds. Her win in the 100 breast was by 5.19 seconds, while she defeated the field in the 200 IM by 8.55 ticks. Finally, she swam the fastest breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay by 1.14 seconds and helped the Mids set another meet, Academy and Crandall Pool record with a final time of 1:41.71. Gorinski has broken the League record in the 200 breast two years in a row at the Army-Navy meet, while her times in the 100 breast and 200 IM both broke marks set in 2009 by Colgate's Emily Murphy.

MALE DIVER OF THE WEEK
CHRIS NGUYEN, ARMY Jr., Cheshire, Conn.
Nguyen continued his dominance of the boards in 2011-12 with another pair of victories, this time coming during the annual Army-Navy tilt at Crandall Pool at West Point. Nguyen won the one-meter competition and was part of a 1-2-3 finish for the Black Knights in the event. He scored 323.92 points to win by 36 points over teammate Josh Urzenis. Nguyen added the three-meter victory by scoring 299.25 points, edging out Navy's Ben Freedman by 6.75 points. The double victory by Nguyen marked the first time that an Army male diver has swept both boards against the Mids since 1980.

FEMALE DIVER OF THE WEEK
COURTNEY VANDAMENT, NAVY Sr., Coppell, Texas
What a way to bolster one's senior season, as Vandament, a senior, collected her first career wins in the Army-Navy meet by sweeping the one- and three-meter dives in the Mids' 226.5-73.5 victory. Her largest victory came in the three-meter, where she scored 268.95 points and won by 41.32. She completed the sweep by winning the one-meter competition with 261.07 points, clearing the field by nearly 30. In eight outings this season, Vandament has six wins in the three-meter event and five from the one-meter board.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
DAN FOKY, ARMY Jr., Charlottesville, Va.
Foky captured the 50 and 100 free events and swam the anchor leg on Army's 200 medley relay that broke an Academy record with a time of 1:31.42. Foky won the 50 free in 20.81 and the 100 free in 45.61.

ALYSSA TRAN, ARMY Jr., Yorba Linda, Calif.
Tran collected three top-three finishes, including a win in the 50 free in 23.48, in Army's meet against Navy. Her victory was the only one for the Black Knights in the women's competition. She added runner-up in the 100 fly and was part of Army's third-place 200 medley relay.

RITA SNYDER, ARMY So., Rockford, Mich.
Snyder set a personal-best from the three-meter board with 227.63 points to finish second and collected a season-high 201.29 points from the one-meter to capture third during Thursday's Army-Navy meet at West Point.