Feb. 1, 2011
PARK RIDGE, Ill. - After helping lead the No. 25 ranked Penn State women's swimming & diving team to an upset victory over No. 15 Michigan on Saturday, freshman Chelsea Weedman has been named the Big Ten Women's Swimmer of the Week for her performance during the dual meet in Ann Arbor, Mich.
During the competition, Weedman headlined the Nittany Lion effort after capturing a pair of individual titles while also finishing second in another event. Guided by her performance, Penn State edged past the Wolverines, 123-120, and improved to 5-0 in the New Year.
Weedman opened the meet with a dominating performance in the 200-individual medley. During the event, she led a clean sweep by the Nittany Lions as she touched the wall first in 2:01.33, while teammates Merritt Krawczyk and Amy Modglin finished second and third, respectively.
Later, alongside an accomplished field in the 200-butterfly, Weedman came away with another title after posting a time of 2:00.28. While competing against Alexandra Young and Michigan's Adrienne Bicek, who hold two of the event's three fastest times in the conference, Weedman cruised to the title and eclipsed the NCAA `B' standard for the second time this season.
During the final individual discipline of the meet, Weedman pieced together one last outstanding performance as she placed second in the 200-breaststroke. Competing in the event for the first time this season, she completed the course in 2:16.21, which just missed the provisional cut for the NCAA meet by a mere 0.01 seconds.
In her first season in Happy Valley, Weedman has posted five victories and finished on the podium 16 times in seven different events. In addition to her performance last week, she has now won at least one event in four consecutive meets after taking the 100-butterfly against St. Bonaventure, the 200-IM at Maryland, and the 200-fly against North Carolina.
Weedman is one of only two freshmen this season to earn the Big Ten honor and the first one to win it outright. Wisconsin's Rebecka Palm shared the award on November 2. She also joins Modglin as the only Nittany Lions to earn the honor during their freshman campaigns since 2003.
Weedman and the rest of the Nittany Lions will return to action on Saturday when Penn State hosts Lehigh at the McCoy Natatorium at noon.