Maddie Kauahi ’19
Claremont, Calif. (January 10, 2017)—Pitzer College student and freestyle swimmer Maddie Kauahi ’19 was named the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Women’s Athlete of the Week for Swimming and Diving for the second time this season. Kauahi was also named as the CollegeSwimming.com Female Swimmer of the Week earlier in the year. Her Sagehen teammate Danny Villars (PO ’17) was named Men’s Swimmer of the Week.
Kauahi won the 100 freestyle against Division I Seattle University this past weekend, finishing with a time of 53.17. She added second place finishes in the 200-freestyle (1:58.73) and 50-freestyle (25.51) against the Redhawks along with swimming a leg of the 400-freestyle relay team that finished second (3:42.53). The next day against Puget Sound, Kauahi came away with wins in the 50-butterfly (26.43) and 100 freestyle (53.14). She also swam a leg of the winning 200-yard freestyle relay (1:41.62) against the Loggers.
Last season as a first-year student and rookie Sagehen, Kauahi was named SCIAC Newcomer of the Year. She earned All-America honors at the 2016 NCAA DIII Championships in Greensboro, NC, becoming the first Pitzer student and Sagehen swimmer in more than a decade to net this distinction, according to Jean-Paul Gowdy, the head coach of the Pomona-Pitzer Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving teams.
Villars was named as the SCIAC Swimmer of the Week for the first time this season after winning the 50-freestyle (21.85) and the 200-IM (1:58.27) at Puget Sound. He took second in the 100-freestyle (48.18) against Division I Seattle University and swam a leg in the second place 200-medley relay (1:35.12) and the second place 400-freestyle relay (3:15.53).
Sagehens fans can see Kauahi and Villars in action this Saturday, January 14, when the Pomona-Pitzer Swimming and Diving teams host SCIAC opponents Caltech and Occidental at 10:30 a.m.