Garber Defends NEC Swimmer Of The Week Award

Freshman Maddy Garber of the Central Connecticut swimming and diving team was named NEC Swimmer of the Week, the league announced Tuesday afternoon. This is the second consecutive week that Garber has been tabbed NEC Swimmer of the Week and the third time that she has earned the award in her rookie season with the Blue Devils. Garber led CCSU to a ninth place finish at the Frank Elm Invitational this past weekend hosted by Rutgers University in Piscataway, NJ.

Garber had an impressive weekend amongst a field loaded with talent. The freshman was not intimidated at her first major collegiate meet as she was the leading point producer for the Blue Devils on the weekend. Garber swam in seven events and produced five finishes resulting in points towards the Blue Devils' team score, including four top-ten finishes.

Garber's most impressive performance came in the 200 yard breaststroke finals on Sunday where she took second place with a time of 2:15.70. Her time broke the CCSU team record previously held by Kristina Gulia (2:16.89 – 2014), broke the freshman record Garber set earlier in the season (2:21.23) and also proved to be a NCAA Division I "B" cut qualifying time.

The rookie also had another exceptional performance in the 100 yard breaststroke on Saturday. Garber recorded the best time in the preliminary round out of the entire field with a time of 1:02.43. This time broke another CCSU team record that previously stood for nine years by Jamie Crowley (1:02.47 – 2005), broke the freshman record previously held by Kristina Gulia (1:05.17 - 2011) and was another NCAA Division I "B" cut qualifying time for Garber. In the 100 breaststroke finals, Garber ended up finishing third with a time of 1:03.13.

Garber was also a part of one other CCSU record on the weekend as a member of the Blue Devils' 400 yard medley relay team. The team finished fifth in the event with a time of 3:48.45 and broke the previous school record of 3:49.99 which stood since 2005. Helene Neuhaus, Sabree Thomas and Christine Rasile were the other members of the team with Garber.

The Milford, MA product was responsible for contributing 154 points out of the 582 points the Blue Devils scored on the weekend as either a member of a relay team or in an individual race.

Garber and the Blue Devils swimming and diving team will return to the pool for their next competition at the USA Winter Nationals in Greensboro, NC on the weekend of Dec. 4-6.