Swimming & Diving Collects All Four MVC Weekly Awards
 | |
Nov. 27, 2002
St. Louis, Mo. - Southern Illinois University collected all four Missouri Valley Conference Swimmer and Diver of the Week awards for the first time this season. On Wednesday, November 27, Briley Bergen, Marcelo Possato, Devin Aikins and Andrea Johnson were honored by the MVC for their outstanding performances.
Saluki sophomore Marcelo Possato broke the Southern Illinois record in the 200-yard backstroke on Sunday at the Northwestern Invitational. His time of 1:47.49 is the best in the MVC this season. Possato broke the SIU record of 1:47.51, set by Matt Munz in 2001.
Possato also won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.10, also the fastest time in the MVC this season. He also swam the lead leg for SIU in the 200 and 400-yard medley relays, leading the Salukis to third place finishes. The relay times of 1:34.28 (200 medley) and 3:26.10 (400 medley) respectively are the best in the Valley this season.
His two wins led SIU (904) to a second-place team finish, falling just 16 points behind Northwestern (920) and beating No. 24 SMU (900). He pulled off the effort with SIU's Brent Menghini, an all-Missouri Valley Conference performer, sitting out due to injury. Possato, a two-time winner (10/29) of the MVC Swimmer of the Week award, is a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Freshman Briley Bergen broke two Valley records at the same meet. Bergen finishd third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:59.03, breaking the record set by former Saluki Leane Pienaar (4:59.94) in 2001 and posting a new league best.
Bergen, from Tampa, Fla., finished third in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:11.09, which is another MVC best this year. Her time over the first 1000 yards of the race was 10:18.90, which is the best of any 1000-yard freestyle this season and better than the MVC record of 10:20.50, also held by Pienaar.
She also swam the lead leg in the 800-yard freestyle relay, which finished third with a mark of 7:39.59, which leads the MVC as well. The award is the first in Bergen's career.
Johnson won the MVC Diver of the Week award for the third straight week. The sophomore from Elburn, Ill., finished fifth in 1-meter diving with 223.90 points. Her 3-meter dive score of 338.90 is the best in the MVC this year and was good enough for sixth place. Johnson also won the award on Oct. 2.
Aikins won the men's diving award for the second straight week. He finished second in the 3-meter competition with 446.35 points at the Northwestern Invitational. His score is the best in the MVC this year. The sophomore from York, Penn., also finished fourth on the 1-meter board with a score of 275.65.
The SIU men and women will be back in the pool on January 18 at the Rec Center Pool for a dual meet against Western Kentucky on January 18.