St. Louis, Mo., Six individuals from Washington University in St. Louis were selected as the University Athletic Association (UAA) Athletes of the Week for their respective sports, as announced by the UAA.
Junior Samantha Han, Seoul, South Korea (Valley Christian, Calif.) of the No. 8-ranked womens golf team, senior forward Olivia Lillegraven, Coronado, Calif. (Coronado) of the No. 7 womens soccer team, sophomore Ryan Nathenson, Newtown, Conn. (Newtown) and freshman Kevin Van Cleave, Elm Grove, Wis. (Brookfield Academy) of the mens swimming & diving team, and sophomore Niamh OGrady, Sarasota, Fla. (Riverview) and junior Emily Ramos, Parkland, Fla. (Marjory Stoneman Douglas) of the womens swimming & diving team each received the honor.
Han was selected as the UAA Womens Golf Athlete of the Week for the first time in her career after claiming medalist honors at the 2015 Illinois Wesleyan University Fall Classic Saturday–Sunday. She fired a career-best 72 on Saturday and a 77 Sunday for a two-day score of 149. It was Hans first individual title of her career, and she led WashU to a third-place team finish at the tournament.
Lillegraven earned UAA Womens Soccer Athlete of the Week honors for the second time this season and third time in her career. She scored a pair of goals in a span of six minutes to lead the Bears to a 3-1 win at No. 23 Wheaton College (Ill.) Saturday. The win for the Bears was their first over Wheaton since 2006. With her two goals, Lillegraven leads the UAA in goals (five) and points (12), and moved into a tie for ninth on the WashU all-time scoring list with 24 goals scored.
Nathenson claimed UAA Mens Diving Athlete of the Week accolades for the first time in his career after winning both diving events in WashUs dual victory over NCAA Division I Saint Louis University Friday. He posted a score of 197.02 to win the one-meter diving by more than 30 points, and added another first-place finish in the three-meter diving with a score of 177.60. It was the first dual win for the WashU men against SLU since 2009-10.
O’Grady received UAA Women’s Swimming Athlete of the Week honors for the fourth time in her career. She won a pair of events and added a runner-up finish in another to lead the WashU women to a dual victory over SLU Friday. O’Grady won the 100 butterfly by more than two seconds with a time of 58.03, and led off the Bears’ winning 200-free relay (1:39.58). She added a second-place finish in the 200 free (1:58.19) to help WashU defeat SLU for just the second time in the last 25 years.
Ramos was named the UAA Women’s Diving Athlete of the Week for the second time in her career. She won the one-meter diving event with a score of 205.95 to help WashU to its dual win against SLU. Ramos also added a third-place finish in the three-meter diving event at the meet.
Van Cleave picked up UAA Mens Swimming Athlete of the Week accolades after winning a pair of individual races to help lead the WashU men to their dual win against SLU Friday. He erased more than a two-second differential on the freestyle leg of the 200 individual medley to overtake SLUs Austin Nguyenphu for first, out-touching him at the wall by .06 of a second with a time of 1:56.72. Van Cleave then held off Nguyenphu for first in the 100 backstroke with a winning time of 53.68.
