After leading Seattle University to two victories over conference foe Northern Colorado as well as two wins over South Dakota over the weekend, junior Blaise Wittenauer-Lee (Portland, Ore.) has been named the Western Athletic Conference Female Swimmer of the Week, announced Tuesday morning by the league office.
Wittenauer-Lee picked up five individual event victories during the two meets held at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Friday, she started the weekend by anchoring the 400 medley relay, posting a 100 freestyle split of 51.48 seconds, fastest among the anchor legs, to help the Redhawks win the event with a time of 3:56.86, ninth-best on the all-time top 10 times list. She won the 200 individual medley by almost four full seconds in 2:07.91 (2:06.31 altitude adjusted – her best of the season and 8th on the WAC performance list), followed by a dominating victory in the 200 breaststroke by over 10 seconds in 2:19.44 (2:17.84 altitude adjusted – another season best to remain third on WAC performance list).
Saturday, Wittenauer-Lee won the 400 individual medley by over a full second with a time of 4:39.32, followed by a close victory in the 100 freestyle by just 4/100ths of a second with a time of 53.75 seconds. She completed the weekend with a convincing win in the 100 breaststroke by almost four full seconds with a time of 1:04.84.
This is the second time this season that Wittenauer-Lee has won the weekly award, as she previously earned the honor Oct. 27 after a stellar weekend at Grand Canyon. This is the third weekly award for Seattle U, as Paige Treff (Orland, Calif.) was named Female Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 20 after her performance in the season-opening meet against Simon Fraser and Northern Colorado.
Seattle University (11-5) concludes the dual meet season with a rematch against Simon Fraser Saturday, Jan. 30, starting at 12 noon at the Connolly Complex Pool. Before the meet, Senior Day ceremonies will be held honoring those competing in a home meet for the final time before graduating.