Another week, more awards. Yet again, 11 individual Keene State College athletes received Little East Conference (LEC) weekly awards, promoting them in their outstanding performances in their sport.
Laura Romaniello / Art Director
Three women’s swim and dive members received LEC weekly awards; those members being senior Hope Walsh, first-year Hannah Wood and first-year Jessica Masotta.
Walsh received the title Swimmer of the Week for the fourth time this season. Walsh finished first in all three of her individual freestyle events and first in the 400 freestyle relay at the 2018 LEC Championship.
Beginning with the 1650 free, Walsh touched the wall first in a facility record time of 17:28.87, beating her previous mark of 17:39.23 from 2016. Walsh returned to the pool in Hampden, Massachusetts, for a first-place finish in the 200 free with a time of 1:59.53, before capping off her individual first place finishes with a win in the 500 free in a time of 5:20.50.
In the 400 free relay, Walsh was the anchor leg of the team that topped the competition with a time of 3:40.17.
For the second time this season, Wood was named the Rookie Swimmer of the Week after her performances in the 2018 LEC Championship.
Wood was co-champion in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:12.17 with teammate Alex McCafferty.
Wood finished second in the 100 back in a time of 1:02.00, just 0.12 seconds behind first place. Wood was the first leg of two first-place finishing relays; the 200 free relay turning into a winning time of 1:53.64 and the 400 free relay finished with a time of 3:50.17.
Masotta was also recognized as the Rookie Diver of the Week for the third time this season after her performances at the 2018 LEC Championship.
Masotta finished third on one-meter and the three-meter boards, with scores of 187.00 and 170.90.
The men and women’s track and field team had eight athletes who also received LEC weekly awards.
Juniors Brittany Gravallese and Taylor Bisaillon, along with sophomores Lynne Hebert and Nicole De Almeida, were named the Relay Team of the Week after competing in the 4×400 meter relay at the Open New England Championships. The four Owls combined for a time of 4:09.57 and finished in 15th place.
The men’s team followed, as juniors Jared Hannon, Anthony Jennings and Alex Medina, along with first-year Brandon Castor (the 4×400 meter relay team), were named the Relay Team of the Week after finishing 16th at the Open New England Championships in a time of 3:29.31.
Overall, Owl athletics had a very successful week.
Caroline Perry can be contacted at cperry@kscequinox.com
