Zach Diamond ’18 was named the CollegeSwimming.com National Division III Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 19. Diamond became the first Judge ever to receive the prestigious award.

The honor comes on the backs of an impressive performance for Diamond at the squad’s meet on the road against Wheaton College on Oct. 18. At the meet, he won three individual races. 

Diamond was proud to receive the honor. He commented that he was “shocked. I didn’t know that I would get such a high honor. However, I felt that the honor was a bit premature; I could have pulled off a better performance. It’s still early in the season, and I would like to improve on a lot more aspects of my swimming, whether it be in or out of the pool.”

He completed the 1000-yard freestyle in 10 minutes, 23.43 seconds — 35 seconds faster than the runner- up. He swam the 200-yard butterfly in 2:07.37, while also finishing the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:09.63.   

Diamond also swam the second leg on the runner-up 200-yard freestyle relay with a split of 23.40. 

The Staten Island native is off to a great start after a strong rookie year in the 2014 to 2015 campaign. 

Diamond is content with the team’s performance so far. 

He said, “The team is right where it should be for this time of year; i.e., comparable with regard to times at this time last year. With all of the hard work we put in at practice every day, we will definitely be ready to unleash our full potential come February (for the University Athletic Association Championships).”

In addition to the CollegeSwimming.com award, Diamond was also named the University Athletic Association Swimmer of the Week for Oct. 19, along with the women’s team’s Kylie Herman ’19. 

In her first-ever collegiate meet, Herman captured two first place finishes for the Judges.

Herman won the 200-yard freestyle race with a time of 2:03.24 and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:26.35. 

She also earned a second place finish in the 200 fly with a time of 2:18.01, losing out on another win by less than a second.

The men and women fell to Wheaton in the meet, 177.5-107.5 for the men and 206-84 for the women’s side. 

Diamond is optimistic about the team’s success as they move forward. “Our team’s mindset has changed slightly, basically due to the fact that as a team we agreed to ‘swim smarter’. For example, we should focus on the details (stroke counts, pacing, etc.) in order to fine-tune the swims as a whole. We hope to carry this mainframe for not only this year but for other years to come,” he said.  

During this past weekend’s Rochester Invitational, Diamond earned four top-10 finishes.

He placed in sixth during the 1650 yard freestyle with a time of 17:16.15, which was his first mile swim of the season.

He also finished seventh in the 200 butterfly in 2:08.13 and the 500 free with a time of 5:07.07.

Diamond’s fourth  top-10 finish came in the 400 individual medley, which he completed in 4:32.34.

Diamond will look to continue on his impressive performances when the squad travels to Worcester Polytechnic Institute to face off against WPI and Babson College.

The squad will then head crosstown to face off against Bentley University on Nov. 20.

Diamond and Herman will attempt to lead the team to a successful season in 2015 to 2016 that will improve upon its mark in 2014 to 2015.