By Clarissa Olson Posted March 27, 2019
This week’s Student-Athletes of the Week are Matthew Lizanetz and Abbee Grieve for swim.
“For both of them, it’s really just how hard they’re working,” said coach Shelby Ruff. “It’s always hard to pick because they all have different events and different strengths. You just have to focus on that specific meet and how they did as an individual, to see if it stands out any more than anybody else’s accomplishments. We only have eleven people.”
Grieve, although new to the sport, is flourishing under pressure.
”It is very difficult to come in with little to no swimming experience and not just be totally overwhelmed and down about the challenge,” said Ruff. “Abbee really enjoys coming to practice and continues to work hard.”
At the meet on March 16, Grieve brought in a time of 55.86 on the 50m freestyle, showcasing the improvement achieved through hard work.
“I chose Abbee this week because it was the first meet she has been to ever,” said Ruff. “She’s been struggling with not just the strokes, but especially with diving off the diving block. She did that for the first time this week in competition, and we were proud of her.”
Lizanetz and Grieve couldn’t be more different when it comes to experience.
“Matthew has a swimming background, but shows a lot of potential and attention to detail that other swimmers often miss,” said Ruff. “He has a lot of strengths technique-wise that I don’t often see in the other swimmers. It’s something that I have to harp on people a lot about. Particularly in and out of his flip turns and the breathing style that he uses in his races.”
Lizanetz and his partner, Tristan Miller, scored with a 2:17.18 on the 200m relay on March 16. His team for the four-person 200m relay finished in 1:53.82. On his own, Lizanetz had a time of 27.93 in the 50m freestyle and 116.95 in the 100m backstroke.
