Fraser, Spofforth & Stafford Earn SEC Weekly Awards
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Three Florida swimmers earned SEC Athlete of the Week accolades for their performances Jan. 16-17 in Gator swimming competition. The accolades, announced by the league office Tuesday, went to freshman Shara Stafford (Topeka, Kan.) and junior Gemma Spofforth (West Sussex, England) on the women's side and junior Shaune Fraser (George Town, Cayman Islands) on the men's side.
The SEC Women's Freshman of the Week honor marked the second of the season so far for Stafford, while the honor marked the first of the season for both Fraser, the SEC Male Swimmer of the Week, and Spofforth, the SEC Female Swimmer of the Week.
Spofforth and Stafford led the No. 6 Lady Gators to the Swimming World Magazine College Conference Carnival crown in Piscataway, N.J., as UF swam past No. 14 North Carolina, Richmond and host, Rutgers. Spofforth won the 100 back in 53.95 and the 200 back in 1:54.93 to set Sonny Werblin Recreation Center pool records. Additionally, both marks were NCAA provisional standards and her 200-yard back performance was the fastest of the year so far, both individually and for the Gators. Spofforth's 1:54.93 ranks fourth in the SEC so far this season.
An 11-time All-American, Spofforth struck again as the backstroke leg of the winning and pool-record setting 200-yard medley relay that finished in 1:42.83, and played an instrumental role in the winning 200-yard free and 400-yard medley relays as well.
In just her freshman campaign, Stafford has become one of UF's elite freestylers, holding the second-fastest 100-yard free and the fastest 200-yard free times for the Orange and Blue this season. At the swim classic in New Jersey, Stafford finished first in both the 100 and 200-yard free races, and third in the 100-yard back. Her 100 back mark (55.10) was a season-best time and NCAA provisional standard. Stafford also swam a season-best 100-yard free split (50.12) as the leadoff leg of the second-place 400-yard freestyle relay and swam freestyle legs in the winning 400 medley and 200 free relays.
On the men's side, Fraser led the Florida men at the Dallas Morning News Classic, where the Gators took second out of six top-25 programs. Fraser collected a win in the 200-yard fly, where he swam the fastest time for the Gators this season, a 1:44.56 NCAA provisional mark. Fraser's fly time is the third-best in the SEC in 2008-09.
Fraser also joined a quartet of Gator men as the winners in the 400-yard medley relay, swimming the fly leg of both the 200 and 400-yard medley relays, while also finishing third in the 50-yard free (20.44). Fraser turned around to swim a season-best 1:35.53 200-yard free leadoff leg of the men's 800-yard free relay, while contributing to the second-place efforts of the 200-yard free relay.
Florida SEC Swimmers and Divers of the Week Tally
MEN
Oct. 21 – Anthony Lewark, Diving: SEC Male Diver of the Week & SEC Male Freshman of the Week
Oct. 28 – Omar Pinzon, Swimming: SEC Male Swimmer of the Week
Nov. 5 – Balazs Gercsak, Swimming: SEC Male Swimmer of the Week
Nov. 11 – Jeff Raymond, Swimming: SEC Male Freshman of the Week
Dec. 9 – Anthony Lewark, Diving: SEC Male Diver of the Week
Jan. 20 – Shaune Fraser, Swimming: SEC Male Swimmer of the Week
WOMEN
Oct. 21 – Laurabeth Guenthner, Swimming: SEC Female Swimmer of the Week
Oct. 21 – Shara Stafford, Swimming: SEC Female Freshman of the Week
Oct. 28 – Teresa Crippen, Swimming: SEC Female Freshman of the Week
Nov. 11 – Kara Salamone, Diving: SEC Female Diver of the Week
Dec. 9 – Laurabeth Guenthner, Swimming: SEC Female Swimmer of the Week
Jan. 20 – Gemma Spofforth, Swimming: SEC Female Swimmer of the Week
Jan. 20 – Shara Stafford, Swimming: SEC Female Freshman of the Week
