Scifo, Jennings win NEC honors; Rice recognized by CollegeSwimming

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University women's swimming and diving team was honored with two weekly awards from the Northeast Conference this week, as sophomore Alaina Scifo (Ipswich, Great Britain) and junior Stephanie Jennings (Elmont, N.Y.) were named Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, the conference announced Tuesday.

Along with these, junior Jillian Rice (Trumbull, Conn.) was honored with the CollegeSwimming Northeast Conference Swimmer of the Week, the site announced Tuesday.

Scifo won three races for the Bulldogs in their meet in Vermont on Sunday, swimming the 100 back in 58.83 and the 200 back in 2:06.54. Both of those times ranked in the Top 5 in the NEC this season. In addition, her 200 back swim is the fastest by any Bulldog this season, while the 100 back is third-fastest by any swimmer for the Black and Gold.

She ended her afternoon by anchoring her team's winning 400 freestyle relay squad, swimming the final 100 in 53.03.

Jennings walked away from Burlington with a pair of Top 3 finishes in her pocket, increasing her season total to three after she finished third in the 1-meter and second in the 3-meter diving events. Jennings dove to a tally of 216.59 in the 1-meter to start her afternoon, then finished the 3-meter event with a 212.69, edging out teammate Elizabeth Cahill (Ashland, Mass.) by 1.19 points for second place.

Rice's honor comes after she swam the eighth-best swim of the meet, according to CollegeSwimming's scoring system. Along with that 24.59 time in the 50 free, she also placed second in the 500 free (5:16.19) and third in the 200 free (1:57.77).

Scifo is the second Bulldog this season to win Swimmer of the Week and the first since Rice on October 10. Jennings won the fifth Diver of the Week award for the Bulldogs, with the other four coming from junior Kelci Abernethy (Chandler, Ariz.). Rice is the first Bulldog to take home CollegeSwimming's NEC Swimmer of the Week.