George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
A-10 Championships
Bolognesi Wins A-10 Most Outstanding Swimmer on Saturday
2/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
GENEVA, Ohio - After setting conference records in all three of his individual events, GW men's swimming and diving junior Andrea Bolognesi took home the Atlantic 10 Championships' Most Outstanding Performer award on Saturday night to close the four-day meet at the SPIRE Institute.
The Colonials took fifth place in the meet with 398 points under the direction of first-year head coach James Winchester. Massachusetts won the Championships with 671 points, followed by St. Bonaventure (482), La Salle (473.5) and Saint Louis (457.5). GW finished ahead of George Mason (396), Davidson (371) and Fordham (165) to stage a significant improvement from the squad's seventh-place finish a year ago.
"The team did a fantastic job this week," said Coach Winchester. "I was really impressed with the resiliency of our program. Our student-athletes have given us a great stepping stone for where we want our program to be in the next few years."
On the final day of competition, the Colonials set two more program marks to bring the week's total to nine new GW records set at the A-10 Championships.
Senior Oliver Keegan posted a record-breaking performance in the 200-yard butterfly preliminary with a time of 1:48.09 to earn a spot in the championship final, where he went on to earn a bronze medal (1:48.28).
In the final event of the meet, Bolognesi teamed up with sophomores Adam Drury and Gustav Hokfelt and freshman Patrick Lersch to set a program record in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:00.60 to take fourth place.
Hokfelt appeared in the championship final of the 200-yard backstroke after posting a personal-best 1:46.93 in the preliminary; he went on to take sixth overall (1:47.09).
Drury also competed in the evening session, taking seventh overall int he 100-yard free (45.50).
Junior Ben Fitch and freshman Josh Monacelli appeared in the consolation finals of the 200-yard fly and 200-yard breaststroke, respectively. Fitch won his heat to take ninth place overall (1:50.29), and Monacelli, in his third consolation final of the meet, grabbed 11th overall with a personal-best time of 2:04.23 to break into GW's all-time list at the seventh spot.
GW also had a strong showing in the 1,650-yard freestyle, as a trio of Colonials logged points for the Colonials. Junior Liam Huffman took 10th overall (16:04.98), sophomore Clarke Indek placed 12th while setting a personal best time in 16:09.76 and sophomore Connor Hart grabbed 13th (16:11.07).
Bolognesi took home top honors, receiving the Most Outstanding Performer award after a stellar performance throughout the week in which he set A-10 and GW records in the 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke - all in NCAA 'B' cut times. Of GW's nine program records set at the Championships, Bolognesi had a hand in seven of them and is the first Colonial to earn Most Outstanding Performer since David Zenk in 2009.
"Andrea is defintely very deserving of this award," said Coach Winchester. "He put together a fantastic championship performance. To come into the conference and to set three conference records in one meet, and especially to set two of them within the same day twice, is quite unheard of, so it's definitely a very special performance that's very worthy of becoming A-10 Most Outstanding Performer."
While team competition for the Colonials is complete, Coach Winchester is hopeful of the possibility of an NCAA Championships invitation for Bolognesi, whose three 'B' cut times give him the eligibly to be selected.
"It was definitely a great first A-10 Championships for our staff," said Coach Winchester. "I'm really appreciative of the support this week from our parents; they did a fantastic job up in the crowd representing our program and keeping our student-athletes motivated. We'll now be looking forward toward potentially participating at the NCAA Championships in a couple of weeks."
Players Mentioned
