ROSEMONT, Ill.- Penn State Men's Swimming's Victor Baganha is named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week as announced by the conference on Wednesday evening. The junior claimed seven golds, three individual wins and three NCAA B Cuts throughout the three-day competition.
Starting off the three-day meet on Friday, he won first place in three events Friday night. His biggest race was a first in the 50 free and a D1B time of 19.26 in the finals. His time in the 50 free ranks sixth all-time in program history. He was also a part of two first place relay teams, one of them being the 200 freestyle relay with teammates Cooper Morley, Mariano Lazzerini and Tommy Hurley. He was also a part of the winning team in the 400 medley relay with team of Morley, Lazzerini, and Tylor Kim.
On Day 2 of the Princeton Invite, he helped to lead the 200 medley relay team to victory with a team comprised of Morley, Lazzerini, and Hurley. He also posted another individual first-place finish in the 100 fly with another D1B time of 45.69.
Finally, on the last day of the meet, he had yet another pair of wins, one in an individual event and one in a relay. He placed first in the 100 free with a 42.75, good for a fifth all-time mark in Penn State history and finished with a first in the 400 free relay with his teammates Morley, Kim, and Lachlan Byrne to cap off the meet weekend.
This is Baganha's first Big Ten Weekly Award of the season, but he has been impressive all around. In every Penn State meet he has competed in this season, he has won the 50 free, and has placed first in at least two events. Baganha also competed in the Pan American games at the end of October and was able to finish 6th in the 100 fly finals.
His time of 19.26 in the 50 free this weekend is less than 2-tenths of a second off his personal best of 19.10.
Baganha is the first Penn State swimmer from the men's team to win a Big Ten Weekly Award so far this season, but he joins teammates Cat Stanford, Morgan Jenny, and Abbey Ekstrom from the women's team, who were all winners earlier in the season.
Baganha and teammates will compete next against Army on January 12th in West Point.
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