SMITH NAMED NEC SWIMMER OF THE WEEK

December 8, 2009

BRYANT UNIVERSITY'S MOLLY SMITH NAMED NEC SWIMMER OF THE WEEK

Freshman Molly Smith was named NEC Swimmer of the Week Tuesday for her record-breaking performance against URI this past weekend. www.dspics.com

SOMERSET, N.J. - After a standout performance last week at the URI Invitational, Bryant University freshman swimmer Molly Smith (Belmont, Mass.) was named Athlete of the Week by the Northeast Conference.  The announcement was made Tuesday by the conference office.  This is the first weekly honor for Smith and the second this season for the Bulldogs as freshman Casey Ostrander (Yarmouthport, Mass.) was named swimmer of the week back in November.

Smith helped lead the Bulldogs to a third-place finish at the University of Rhode Island Invitational on Dec. 5 thanks to two record-breaking performances on the afternoon. Smith placed first in the 200 breastroke in a time of 2 minutes, 27.82 seconds, breaking her previous record set earlier this season by over a second. 

Later, Smith would set a new school mark by placing second in the 500 freestyle, breaking the old mark held by teammate Jess Looney's (Goffstown, NH) mark of 5:16.17 with a new time of 5:11.81.   Smith would nearly pick up a third new school record, this time in the 400 individual medley where she placed second overall in a time of 4:40.82, just a fraction of second behind Looney's record of 4:39.12. 

Ostrander also had an outstanding meet as well, recording school records in both the 100 free (54.48) and 100 backstroke (59.00).   

Bryant will be off for the holidays and will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 17 with at meet against Canisius University.