Nennig & O’Brien Claim UAA Athlete of the Week Honors for Swimming & Diving
Emory University sophomore Sadie Nennig and junior Peter O'Brien were named the University Athletic Association's (UAA) Athletes of the Week for women's and men's swimming and diving, respectively, following their performances at the Miami (Ohio) Invitational last week.
Nennig set a school record and recorded four NCAA 'A' cut times during the three-day Miami Invitational. Nennig broke her own program record in the 100-yard backstroke, swimming an 'A' cut time of 55.24 seconds in the preliminaries, eventually finishing second in the finals of the event. She added a pair of first-place finishes in individual events during the meet, winning the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:59.00 and the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:03.81, both automatic qualifying marks. Nennig also swam the backstroke leg of two Emory relays, finishing second as part of the 400-yard medley relay with an 'A' cut time of 3:46.35 (including a mark of 55.34 seconds on her leg), and third as part of the 200-yard medley relay team with a 'B' cut time of 1:44.06 (with a split of 26.54). Nennig accounted for 131.5 of the Eagles' 1818 points during the meet.
Meanwhile, O'Brien set a school record of his own, in addition to being a part of six NCAA 'A' cut performances during the Invitational. O'Brien broke the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke with an 'A' cut time of 55.93 seconds in the preliminaries, eventually winning the finals of the event. He also claimed victories in the finals of the 200-yard individual medley (1:50.25) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:00.79), swimming automatic qualifying times in both. O'Brien added an individual 'A' cut time during the preliminaries of the 400-yard individual medley with a mark of 3:57.44. The junior also swam the breaststroke leg of both of Emory's medley relays, helping the Eagles win the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:30.34, and finish second in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:19.58 (including an individual split of 55.78 seconds), both good for NCAA automatic qualifying times. O'Brien totaled 141 of the Eagles' 1673 points.
Both the Emory men and women finished second at the meet, the team's final competition of the 2011 portion of its schedule.
This is the second Athlete of the Week honor of the season for Nennig, and also the second of her career. Nennig helped the Eagles to a pair of National Championships in relay events and earned five all-America honors last season. It was the second career honor and first of the season for O'Brien, also a five-time all-American.
Following the team's winter break, Emory will return to action on Friday, January 13th at the University of Tampa.
The following Eagles have been named the UAA Swimming & Diving Athletes of the Week this season:
October 24th: Sadie Nennig (Women's Swimming)
October 31st: Ryan Bass (Men's Swimming), Nancy Larson (Women's Swimming)
November 14th: Ross Spock (Men's Swimming), Michelle York (Women's Swimming)
November 21st: Anna Dobben (Women's Swimming)
December 5th: Peter O'Brien (Men's Swimming), Sadie Nennig (Women's Swimming)
