Indiana Men, Michigan Women Win Big in Big Ten Weekly Honors

The Indiana Hoosiers and Michigan Wolverines took home the bulk of the Big Ten’s athlete of the week honors on the men’s and women’s sides, respectively, with the Minnesota freshmen filling in the rest.

Male Swimmer of the Week went to Indiana senior Eric Ress after winning a pair of individual events in the team’s 186-114 win over in-state rivals Purdue on Saturday. He was a 1:37.68 in the 200 yard free and a 1:42.97 in the 200 yard backstroke; that 200 free is a season-best, and the 200 back is the second-ranked time in the country in the spring semester so far. These are indicators that Ress is rounding into fine form headed into the Big Ten Championships in a couple of weeks.

His teammate Darian Schmidt won Male Diver of the Week after sweeping the springboard events against Purdue.

Schmidt has won that honor 7 times, and Ress 3 times, but even with how much success that the Hoosiers have had of late, that’s the first time that they’ve won a men’s Swimmer of the Week honor since October 25, 2011 (when Cody Miller took one).

On the women’s side, sophomore Ali DeLoof took Swimmer of the Week after winning the 50 free (23.45) and 200 back (2:01.07) against Michigan State. This is her 4th career win of this honor, and the second one she’s won in just over a month.

Her teammate Carey Chen was named Diver of the Week after winning the 1-meter and placing 2nd on the 3-meter against the Spartans. The junior out of Vancouver last won this award in October of 2013.

As for the Gophers, it was freshmen Eric Sande and Maddie Hoch who took the Freshmen of the Week honors.

For Sande, he was in the top two in three events at the “Minnesota Challenge,” with season bests in all three races: 55.09 (100 breast – win), 2:03.47 (200 breast – 2nd), 4:27.99 (500 free – win). In fact, his improvements were stunning that between those three races, he dropped an aggregate of over 19 seconds from his previous season bests. In October, at the team’s first two meets, he failed to break a minute in the 100 breaststroke. That’s a magnificent coaching job by the Minnesota staff.

The women’s award went to Hoch after she won the 100 back in 57.88 at the same Minnesota Challenge.

The full listing of this season’s Big Ten award winners are below:

2013-14 Big Ten Women’s Swimmer/Diver of the Week

Oct. 1
S: Ali DeLoof, So., MICH
D: Carey Chen, Jr., MICH
F: Emma Sougstad, IOWA

Oct. 8
S: Ivy Martin, Jr., WIS
D: Maggie Keefer, Sr., MINN
F: Breanne Siwicki, MINN

Oct. 15
S: Ali DeLoof, So., MICH
D: Sarah McCrady, Sr., MINN
F: Amy Bopp, OSU

Oct. 22
S: Brooklyn Snodgrass, So., IND
D: Maggie Keefer, Sr., MINN
F: Gia Dalesandro, IND

Oct. 29
S: Lindsay Vrooman, Sr., IND
D: Michelle Cabassol, So., PUR
F: Olivia Barker, IND

Nov. 5
S: Brooklyn Snodgrass, So., IND
D: Maggie Keefer, Sr., MINN
F: Breanne Siwicki, MINN

Nov. 12
S: Carly Mercer, Sr., PUR
D: Maggie Keefer, Sr., MINN
F: Lacey Locke, NU

Nov. 19
S: Kierra Smith, So., MINN
D: Abby Grilli, Jr., IOWA
F: Breanne Siwicki, MINN

Nov. 26
S: Carly Mercer, Sr., PUR
D: Casey Matthews, Sr., PUR
F: Lauren Abruzzo, NU

Dec. 10
S: Lindsay Vrooman, Sr., IND
D: Anna Filipcic, Fr., NEB
F: Gia Dalesandro, IND

Dec. 17
S: Lindsay Seemann, Sr., IOWA
D: Abby Grilli, Jr., IOWA
F: Anna Filipcic, NEB

Dec. 24
S: No selection
D: Casey Matthews, Sr., PUR
F: No selection

Jan. 7
S: Ali DeLoof, So., MICH
D: Casey Matthews, Sr., PUR
F: Meagan Lim, PUR

Jan. 14
S: Carly Mercer, Sr., PUR
S: Ivy Martin, Jr., WIS
D: Michelle Cabassol, So., PUR
F: Meagan Lim, PUR

Jan. 21
S: Alex Norris, Sr., OSU
D: Abby Grilli, Jr., IOWA
F: Gia Dalesandro, IND

Jan. 28
S: Brooklyn Snodgrass, So., IND
D: Sarah McCrady, Sr., MINN
F: Gia Dalesandro, IND

Feb. 4
S: Ivy Martin, Jr., WIS
D: Maggie Keefer, Sr., MINN
F: Taylor Vargo, OSU

Feb. 11
S: Ali DeLoof, So., MICH
D: Carey Chen, Jr., MICH
F: Maddie Hoch, MINN