Pike, Madriz Earn GNAC Weekly Honors

WINTHROP, Mass. – Capping off the 2021 portion of their competition schedule with winning performances during consecutive dual meets, senior Brendan Pike (Weymouth, Mass.) has been named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week and sophomore Sam Madriz (Union, N.J.) has received the GNAC Men's Swimming and Diving Rookie of the Week award, announced Monday by the league office.

Friday night against Elms, Pike and Madriz led the Pride to an 86-21 dual meet victory over the Blazers. Pike finished first in the 50 breaststroke in 29.72 seconds and the 100 individual medley in 58.38 seconds, both season-best times. Madriz posted times of 2:16.48 in the 200 butterfly, 55.95 seconds in the 100 freestyle, and 1:06.79 in the 100 individual medley.

Just 14 hours after the conclusion of the Elms meet, the Pride faced Husson University Saturday, with Pike and Madriz first swimming the middle two legs of the 200 medley relay that posted an overall time of 1:50.47. Pike cruised to victory in the 200 freestyle by almost nine full seconds with a time of 1:51.02, and then he won the 50 backstroke by almost two full seconds with a mark of 28.19 seconds.

Madriz, in his first season of collegiate competition, also picked up two individual victories during the day, starting with a victory by 3.51 seconds in the 100 butterfly with a season-best time of 58.27 seconds. He then posted another season-best mark in the 50 butterfly, touching the wall first in that event with a time of 26.30 seconds.

This is the fourth career GNAC Athlete of the Week award for Pike after he received the honor three times during the 2019-20 season, plus he collected one GNAC Rookie of the Week award in 2018-19. Madriz is receiving the GNAC Rookie of the Week award for the second time this year, as he was previously recognized Oct. 25 after his performance at Eastern Connecticut State.

The Regis College men's swimming and diving team returns to competition Saturday, Jan. 8, against Colby-Sawyer College at Simmons University's Holmes Sports Center in Boston.