Nov. 22, 2010

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - La Salle's Austin Thomas was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Performer of the Week for the second consecutive week, while Richmond's Jessie Krebs booked the Performer of the Week award on the women's side. Fordham's Shintaro Noguchi picked up his second Men's Rookie of the Week honor in as many weeks, and Richmond's Mali Kobelja won her second Rookie of the Week honor of the season.

Thomas recorded a first, second and third-place finish at the Frank Elm Super Splash, propelling La Salle's men's team to first place with a score of 1709.5. The junior from Cherry Hill, N.J., claimed first in the 100-yard butterfly (:49.55), breaking the previous school record. Thomas finished second and third in the 100-yard freestyle (:46.13) and 50-yard freestyle (:20.81), respectively.

Krebs' performance at the Terrapin Cup, hosted by the University of Maryland, helped the Spiders to a fifth-place finish. The Towson, Md., native came in fifth in the 1,650-yard freestyle (16:50.79), setting the Atlantic 10 season record by 35 seconds. She placed 11th in the 500-yard freestyle with a conference season-best time of 4:56.93.

Noguchi was Fordham's top rookie scorer at the Frank Elm Super Splash, competing in eight events in the Rams' fifth-place finish. The native of Tiburon, Calif., booked a time of :51.09 in the 100-yard butterfly, claiming second place out of 35 swimmers. He also had a strong performance as a member of the 200-yard freestyle relay team (1:25.16) and 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:10.43).

Kobelja competed in seven events and set three league season records at the Terrapin Cup. The Fort Wayne, Ind., native improved her already league-leading 200-yard breaststroke time to 2:21.12 and her league-leading 200-yard individual medley time to 2:04.41. Her 400-yard individual medley time (4:32.44) also set the record for the season. Kobelja also was a member of the second-place 200-free relay team (1:34.73) and fourth-place 400-free relay team (3:29.78).

About the A-10
The Atlantic 10 Conference was formed in 1976 and celebrates its 35th anniversary as a Division I Conference in 2010-11. Currently comprised of 14 member institutions and sponsoring 21 championship sports, the mission and goal of the Atlantic 10 is to preserve, protect, and enhance the academic and athletic pursuits of the membership. The conference is committed to integrity, educational excellence and providing quality equitable championship experiences for more than 6,000 student-athletes, coaches, and support staff. The member institutions of the Atlantic 10 are the University of Dayton, Duquesne University, Fordham University, The George Washington University, La Salle University, University of Massachusetts, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of Rhode Island, University of Richmond, St. Bonaventure University, Saint Joseph's University, Saint Louis University, Temple University, and Xavier University.
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