Shawn Matthews Named CAA Swimmer of the Week

Junior Reset 200 Back School Record Twice On Saturday

11/20/07 4:25PM

RICHMOND, VA - William and Mary junior Shawn Matthews (Rumson, N.J.) was named the Colonial Athletic Association Male Swimmer of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday. It is the first weekly award of Matthews’ career, and the second of the season so far for the men’s swimming and diving team.

Matthews had an outstanding weekend at the Terrapin Cup Invitational, most especially Saturday in the 200 backstroke. During the preliminary heats, he touched the wall in 1:49.63, breaking Daniel Mee’s school record of 1:49.98 set February 26, 2000. That evening in the championship finals, Matthews swam even faster, taking the silver medal in 1:49.17. Prior to Saturday, the last time an athlete on the men’s team had reset a school record was February 20, 2004, when Eric Druker timed 50.15 en route to winning the CAA title in the 100 butterfly.

Matthews’ efforts weren’t relegated to a single event, however. On Thursday, he set a personal-best in the 100 backstroke by swimming 51.62 seconds as the opening leg of the College’s fourth-place 400 medley relay team. The next night, he further lowered the bar by timing 51.34 seconds to take third in the finals of the 100 backstroke, the third-best time in school history.

Thursday, Matthews posted the team’s fastest time of the season in the 500 freestyle, timing 4:38.07 to take 10th overall. He also swam on the College’s top relays in the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay.

Matthews and the rest of the Tribe will return to action on December 1, traveling to Fredericksburg, Virginia to take on the University of Mary Washington at 2 p.m.