Merrilees, Flynn Named Swimmers of the Week and Heger, Grant Names Divers of the Week

INDIANAPOLIS—Oakland’s Jorden Merrilees (Brisbane, Australia) and Nikki Flynn (Saline, Mich.) have been named the Horizon League Men’s and Women’s Swimmers of the Week while Milwaukee’s K.J. Heger (Rockford, Ill.) and Oakland’s Tricia Grant (West Bloomfield) have been named Horizon League Men’s and Women’s Divers of the Week for the week of Dec. 2-8.

Merrilees represented Oakland at the AT&T Winter National Championships this past week at the Greensboro Aquatics Complex. Throughout the three-day meet, Merrilees advanced to three of his four event finals while recording NCAA B-Cut times is each race, respectively. The junior came in fifth-place in the 400-Individual Medley with a time of 3:48.81, took tenth in the 200-Backstroke in a time of 1:44.08 and 13th in the 500-Freestyle with a time of 4:19.68. He also set a new Horizon League record with his time in the 200-Backstroke.

Flynn joined the Golden Grizzlies’ squad at the Eastern Michigan Invite where the women placed third out of six teams. The junior won three events at the Invite while setting personal records in two events. In the 100-Freestyle, Flynn finished with a personal-best time of 50.60 to place first at the meet and ranks sixth in team history in the event. The junior collected wins in the 200-Freestyle with a time of 1:51.11 and was a member of the winning 200-Freestyle Relay team tallying a 22.87 split time. In addition, she tabbed her second personal-record of the day in the 500-Freestyle by beating her previous best by seven seconds, just missing Oakland’s Top 10 time list.

Heger earned his sixth weekly honor of the year after posting impressive scores for Milwaukee at the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational after competing against some of the top divers in the nation. The senior nearly broke his own 3-Meter record after posting a score of 342.80 good for sixth-place at the meet. On the 1-Meter board, Heger collected 283.10 to finish in 11th-place out of 22 fellow divers. The Invitational also featured Platform diving in which he earned a score of 292.15.

Grant tabbed her fourth honor this season after competing at the Eastern Michigan Invitational. The senior finished in second on the 1-Meter and 3-Meter boards, respectively. In the 3-Meter, she garnered 310.30 points and picked up 301.35 points in the 1-Meter.

Milwaukee and Oakland take a break from competition until the new year. The Panthers will compete at Northwestern on January 16th while the Golden Grizzlies also resume action that day versus Cincinnati, Kenyon College and Olivet Nazarene.

2014-15 Horizon League Men’s Swimmer of the Week
Oct. 14: Aleksander Danielewski, Oakland
Oct. 21: Clement Quilliec, Wright State
Oct. 28: Aleksander Danielewski, Oakland
Nov. 4: Clement Quilliec, Wright State
Nov. 11: Aleksander Danielewski, Oakland
Nov. 18: Nic Halverson, Milwaukee
Nov. 25: Philipp Sikatzki, Cleveland State
Dec. 8: Jorden Merrilees, Oakland

2014-15 Horizon League Women’s Swimmer of the Week
Oct. 14: Patricia Aschan, Oakland
Oct. 21: Viktoria Orosz, Youngstown State
Oct. 28: Madison Aranda, Youngstown State
Nov. 4: Holly Morren, Oakland
Nov. 11: Brianna Hines, UIC
Nov. 18: Flavia Segatto, Valparaiso
Nov. 25: Viktoria Orosz, Youngstown State
Dec. 8: Nikki Flynn, Oakland

2014-15 Horizon League Men’s Diver of the Week
Oct. 14: K.J. Heger, Milwaukee
Oct. 21: K.J. Heger, Milwaukee
Oct. 28: K.J. Heger, Milwaukee
Nov. 4: K.J. Heger, Milwaukee
Nov. 11: K.J. Heger, Milwaukee
Nov. 25: Michael Klemm, Green Bay
Dec. 8: K.J. Heger, Milwaukee

2014-15 Horizon League Women’s Diver of the Week
Oct. 14: Tricia Grant, Oakland
Oct. 21: McKenzie Stelter, Youngstown State
Oct. 28: Rachel Margis, Milwaukee
Nov. 4: Tricia Grant, Oakland
Nov. 11: Tricia Grant, Oakland
Nov. 25: Whitney Johnson, UIC
Dec. 8: Tricia Grant, Oakland