St. Paul – Gustavus Adolphus women’s swimmer Ashley Lager (St. Peter, Minn.) has been named the MIAC Women’s Swimming and Diving Athlete-of-the-Week for her performance at the MIAC Invitational held this weekend at the Anderson Pool on the campus of the University of St. Thomas. Lager won one individual race, was a member of a first place relay team, totaled five top-three finishes, while at the same time breaking her career-best times in all her individual races.
Head Coach Jon Carlson kept the St. Peter native busy throughout the weekend, racing Lager in a total of six individual and four relay races. Lager’s top performance of the weekend came in the 100 backstroke where she out-touched her teammate Alissa TInklenberg for a first place finish in 59.30. She also earned spots on the podium with a pair of third place performances in the 200 freestyle (2:00.70) and 200 backstroke (2:13.34). The rookie’s weekend was rounded out with swims in the 500 free (7th, 5:24.70), 50 free (15th, 25.76), and 100 free (21st, 57.29).
Along with her individual races, Ashley was a member of four relay teams that all finished in the top five. Lager joined Leah Anderson, McKenna Jones, and Alissa Tinklenberg in the 800-free relay, swimming the third leg and helping the team to a win with a time of 8:01.95. She also competed in the 200-medley relay, 400-medley relay, and 400-free relay.
Heading into the final two weeks of training before the 2013 MIAC Championships, Lager ranks second in the MIAC in the 100 back and fifth in the 200 back. She is the third Gustavus swimmer to earn Athlete-of-the-Week distinction from the MIAC this year. Jennifer Strom was the first on Nov. 19 and Alissa Tinklenberg was the second on Dec. 3
Gustavus will attempt to win its fourth-consecutive conference championship, and sixth MIAC title in the last seven years at this season’s conference meet. The MIAC Championships will be held Feb. 14-16 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.