Women’s Gabriella Villarruel and men’s Danila Novikov and Nikolay Shevchenko have been honored with the CUNY Athletic Conference’s Weekly awards. Senior’s Villarruel and Shevchenko were named Swimmer of the Week while Novikov was awarded Rookie of the Week.
Taking her second consecutive Swimmer of the Week award on the women’s side, Villarruel has shined for the Dolphins. Last week, she totaled three golden wins in the two meet week. Despite the loss against Drew, she placed first in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 28.38, while also swimming on the second-place 400 Medley Relay team (5:55.71). In CUNYAC action against Lehman, Villarruel placed first in both the 200 Individual Medley (2:37.34) and 100 Freestyle (1:04.26), while aiding the 200 Medley Relay team to a victorious 2:14.39 mark.
Shevchenko, gathering his second Swimmer of the Week win this season, helped the Dolphins to a 2-0 week. He totaled 5 golden finishes in six events. In a victory over Drew, he placed first with a time of 50.86 in the 100 Freestyle, while also swimming on the victorious 400 Medley Relay squad that finished with a 3:36.02 time. Against Lehman, Shevchenko placed first in the 100 Butterfly (59.82) and the 500 Freestyle (4:51.87), while placing second in the 50 Freestyle (23.02).
Four-time Rookie of the Week honoree Novikov went won all six events he participated in last week. Novikov’s touched in first in the 1,000 Freestyle with a time of 10:28.29, the 200 Individual Medley at 1:58.70 and the 400 Medley Relay at 3:36.02. Four days later versus Lehman, Novikov won the 50 Free (20.54), 100 Free (49.64) and swam on the winning 200 Free Relay squad (1:40.11).
Both the men and women will be back in action of Tuesday, January 25 as they travel to Old Westbury for a 6:00 pm non-conference meet.