ROCHESTER, NY - Senior diver Ashley Brinkman (Ottawa, OH), after sweeping the one- and three-meter diving state and conference titles this past weekend has added two conference honors to her list of accomplishments. Brinkman, as expected, was named the Empire 8 Diver of the Meet following her wins, and was named co-Empire 8 Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week this afternoon. She shares the honor with Ithaca senior Lauren Botterbusch, who earned the E8 Swimmer of the Meet award.
Brinkman set an Empire 8 championship record with a score of 404.95 on the one-meter board and captured the three-meter event with a score of 431.05 at this weekend's festivities. It marked the third time in four years she has swept the Empire 8 diving events, giving her seven conference titles. Both of her scores were also Hartwick College records and met NCAA Div. III provisional qualifying standards
Junior Erin Gray (Gardner, MA) and freshman Stephanie Ha (Everett, WA) also earned NCAA B-cut times on the weekend. Gray provisionally qualified for the national meet in the 1650 freestyle (17:39.93) with Ha accomplishing the feat in the 100 fly (58.53).
Gray, senior Katie Swanson (Franklin, MA), and freshman Robyn Smith (Jupiter, FL) each earned Empire 8 second team honors in their respective events for their second-place finishes to go along with Brinkman's E8 first-team honors in both diving events. Hartwick senior
Casey Whittaker (Salisbury, MA) who finished 5th in the conference in the 200 fly, 8th in the 200 individual medley, and 11th in the 100 fly, was selected to the Empire 8 Sportswoman of the Year Team for consistently exhibiting the critical traits as an outstanding sportswoman and competing with honor and integrity.
