PCSC Athletes of the Week: November 20
The Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference announced its Athletes of the Week for the week of Nov. 12-19 on Tuesday following a week of exciting competition for six conference teams at the A3 Performance Invitational in San Diego. After some tough decisions, UC San Diego's Alejandro Ortiz and Cal State East Bay's Claire Beaty collected the Division II awards, while Loyola Marymount's Alyce-Faye Eichelberger claimed the Division I honors.
DIVISION II MEN
Alejandro Ortiz, UCSD: Ortiz earned the A3 Performance Invitational Male Swimmer of the Meet distinction as the event's top male point-scorer with 92. The junior won the 500 freestyle (4:30.95) on Thursday and the 200 free (1:40.73) on Friday night, and placed second in the mile (15:59.96). Ortiz added a first-place showing as a member of UCSD's top 800 free relay (6:48.31). He produced a trio of individual NCAA "B" cuts while guiding the Tritons to the team victory.
DIVISION II WOMEN
Claire Beaty, Cal State East Bay: Beaty won two individual races at the A3 Performance Invitational last weekend, setting a pair of new school records along the way. The Novato, Calif., native won the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:02.41 and went faster in prelims with a time of 1:02.19, breaking the school record and recording an NCAA 'B" cut. The senior also won the 200 breast with a time of 2:12.50, which is also a school record and an NCAA "A" cut.
She also placed sixth in the 200 IM with a personal best of 2:05.65, while helping the 400 medley relay to a third-place finish and the 400 medley relay team to fifth-place. Beaty was the top Division II women's scorer at the meet, scoring 88 points to guide East Bay to a fourth-place team finish.
DIVISION I WOMEN
Alyce-Faye Eichelberger, Loyola Marymount: Eichelberger scored 54 points in the A3 Performance Invitational in San Diego last weekend. She made the championship final in both the 50 freestyle, placing seventh (24.18) and the 100 backstroke, finishing seventh in 57.63. On Saturday, the sophomore placed 16th in the 100 freestyle with a lifetime best time of 52.74. She also swam on LMU's 200 medley relay, as well as the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, helping the team to a sixth-place finish.
The PCSC includes institutions from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). All three divisions of the NCAA are represented. Each week, the PCSC coaches nominate and vote on the Athletes of the Week in seven categories: NCAA Division I women, Division II men and women, Division III men and women and NAIA men and women. You can find the Athlete of the Week archive here.
