Colorado State sophomore Jessica Shepard has been named this week’s Mountain West Women’s Swimmer of the Week. The conference made the announcement Wednesday morning.
Shepard, a native of Dripping Springs, Texas, competed in four events in a 152-148 come-from-behind win over Northern Arizona on Saturday, taking first place in all four. She earned 27 points for CSU with three individual wins, plus 11 points for a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (1:45.90), which she helped CSU lead early with a strong opening leg (26.44).
The Rams were down by 10 points going into the final two events of the meet, and they knew they needed to take first place in both to have a shot at winning. Shepard stepped up to the challenge, winning the 200 IM (2:07.09) to put the Rams within five points. The 400 Freestyle Relay team then edged NAU by 19-hundredths of a second in the final event, in addition to taking third place, to win the meet in thrilling fashion.
In addition to the 200 IM and 200 Medley Relay, Shepard finished first in the 100 (56.87) and 200 Backstroke (2:04.88) events, with season-best times. The times also rank seventh and fifth, respectively, among Mountain West athletes this season.
The award is the second by a CSU athlete this season. Sophomore Ariana Milone was named the MW Women’s Diver of the Week on Oct. 23. Shepard is CSU’s first MW Women’s Swimmer of the Week since Jennifer Muniz, in 2009.
This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of CSU Swimming and Diving.