INDIANAPOLIS - The Great Midwest Athletic Conference announced its eighth installment of Swimming & Diving Athletes of the Week on Tuesday with selections going to Malone and Hillsdale.
 
For the first time, a student-athlete participating in diving was chosen to represent the conference alongside a swimmer.
 
Men’s Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week
Dominic Mariano
Malone
Freshman
Diving
Youngstown, OH (Boardman)
 
Mariano put together a strong performance at the Wooster Invitational this past Thursday to gain his first Great Midwest Athlete of the Week and the first for any diver this season.
 
His 1-meter dive score of 432.65 was good enough to win the invitational as well as put him in the top tier of divers in Division II. As of Tuesday his score was the 20th highest this season of anyone in Division II and ranked in the top 50 of any collegiate swimmer this year.
 
The freshman has been consistent all year as his victory at the Wooster Invitational was his fourth of the year in the 1 meter dive, with his previous three coming in dual meets against Davis & Elkins, Hiram and Mount Union.
 
Women’s Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week
Anika Ellingson
Hillsdale
Junior
Breaststroke
Litchfield, MN (Litchfield)
 
For the second straight week, Ellingson made a splash in the pool to earn back-to-back honors after taking home two first-place finishes at the Calvin Invitational.
 
She helped lead the Chargers to a fifth-place finish of eight teams at the event and she kicked off her competition by breaking a school record she set herself in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:02.49. Her previous record was 1:02.87.
 
She followed that up by posting a top-10 finish in the 200-yard IM and finished up the performance by coming within a couple tenths of a second of her second school record of the competition in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:19.57. Both of her breaststroke times were new conference bests for the 2017 season.
 
Her 200-yard breaststroke time was good enough for 16th fastest in Division II this season, while her 100-yard breaststroke time is now the fifth-fastest time in Division II.