After dominating every race he was involved in individually, including two new pool records, as well as being part of two more pool records in relay events, junior Murray Longbotham (Mercer Island, Wash.) was named Male Swimmer of the Week by the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), announced Wednesday by the conference office.
In Friday's meet against Simon Fraser, Longbotham set a new pool record in the 200 freestyle, winning that event with a time of 1:40.41, 2.66 seconds faster than his nearest competitor. He won the 500 freestyle by almost five full seconds with a time of 4:37.45, breaking a pool record that had stood for 10 years coming into the weekend. Longbotham also swam the second leg of the 200 freestyle relay, posting a split of 20.78 seconds as the Redhawks won that event by over three seconds with a pool record time of 1:23.33
In Saturday's rematch with the Clan, his split of 50.08 seconds in the third leg of the men's 400 medley relay helped Seattle U post a time of 3:23.97, breaking the pool record by over five seconds. He repeated his victory in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:41.96, and he also won the 100 freestyle in 46.56 seconds as the Redhawk men completed the weekend sweep of Simon Fraser.
"Murray had some big goals for the weekend and definitely met and exceeded them with his swims," Seattle U head swim coach Craig Nisgor said. "The 200 free was a big race for him where he dropped .6 seconds off his best in-season swim ever, and he followed that up by dropping 4 seconds off his in-season best in the 500 free. Since he has not really begun his taper yet, we know that we can look forward to some really great swims when he is fully rested at the MPSF conference meet."
Longbotham is the defending MPSF champion in two events, winning both the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle at the 2011 conference championships. He is the second Seattle U swimmer to earn the conference's weekly honor during the 2011-12 season, as Jordan Anderson was named Swimmer of the Week Nov. 9.
The Seattle University men's swim team is preparing for the MPSF Championship, to take place Wednesday to Saturday, Feb. 15-18, at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, Calif.