Oct. 8 - 14, 2023 Athletes of the Week
Female Swimmer of the Week
Montana White, Arizona Pacific University, Junior
Montana White, the winner of the 2022-23 season’s Female Athlete of the Year award, earned her first Female Swimmer of the Week honors of the 2023-24 season after a successful performance at the Rodionoff Invitational that was hosted by Pepperdine University over the weekend.
In her individual events, Montana earned an NCAA "B" Standard National Qualifying Time and finished first overall in the 500 Free (4:56.01), completing the race 15 seconds faster than the second-place finisher across all divisions while also placing first overall in the 200 Free (1:53.18). She was a part of two APU relay teams, swimming the Fly leg (25.25) in the 200 Medley Relay and the Anchor leg (50.17) of the 400 Free Relay which placed first overall in Division II.
Female Freshman of the Week
Rachel Maki, Concordia University Irvine
Rachel had an outstanding meet at the Rodianoff Invitational on Friday and Saturday. On Day 1 of the Rodianoff Invitational, she won the Open 1000 freestyle event by posting the time of 10:41.40, which currently is the #1 time in the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference by a staggering 20 seconds, the #7 in CUI history, and is now in the Top 20 in the NCAA Division II.
She returned Saturday to take 2nd place in the Open 500 freestyle (5:11.42), ranking her 3rd in the PCSC while her 1:58.13 in the 200 Free placed her third among the D2 swimmers and ranking her 8th in the PCSC. Rachel helped lead her team to the Division 2 team title.
Male Swimmer of the Week
Massimo Reyna, UC Santa Cruz, Sophomore
During the Slug Shootout, a season opener for UCSC, Massimo won the 500 Free in a time of 4:44.21, which stands as 10th overall in Division 3 this season. He also took 5th in the 200 free with a time of 1:45.71. He anchored the Slugs' 3rd-place 400 medley relay in a time of 46.7, their 3rd-place 200 Free relay in a time of 21.1, and swam the leadoff leg of their 4th-place 400 Free relay in 47.35, which is currently the 16th fastest time overall in Division 3.
Male Freshman of the Week
Morgan Madril, UC Santa Cruz
Morgan made an impressive debut as the Banana Slugs hosted a total of ten other schools in the two-day season opener, the largest field in the event's history over the past weekend. Morgan took 7th place in the 200 free at the Slug Shootout in a lifetime best of 1:47.43 and second place in the 100 fly in a time of 52.61. He also swam the fly leg of the Slugs' 400 Medley relay in a team-best split of 51.50.
Male Diver of the Week
Andrew Keidel, UC Santa Cruz, Senior
Rounding out the "triple crown" of this week's Male Athletes of the Week honors, Andrew, a senior from Redlands, California, and one of the 15 UCSC recipients of last season’s PCSC Academic All-Conference First Team with GPAs of 3.50 or above began his senior season in flying fashion at the Slug Shootout over the weekend. Andrew took third place in the 1-meter dive with a score of 193.80 and second in the 3-meter dive with a score of 238.30.
