TUCSON, ARIZ.— Four Wildcats earned weekly Big 12 awards for their performances in Arizona's win against top-ranked Minnesota over the weekend. Kayman Neal, Haakon Naughton, Gage DuBois and Brooke Earley all took home conference awards.
Freshman Kayman Neal received the Big 12's Newcomer of the Week award after her performance against a No. 23 Minnesota women's squad. Neal secured three podium finishes against the Golden Gophers. In her first-place 200 Back swim, Neal earned Arizona's best time of the season (1:56.58), also securing an NCAA "B" Cut in the event. She also achieved personal bests with her 54.02 in the 100 Back finish and 54.39 in the 100 Fly. In her first season with the Wildcats, Neal now holds Arizona's season-best times in the 100 and 200 Back and the second-best time in the 100 Fly.
Naughton, who was named the Big 12's Swimmer of the Week, earned conference honors for the first time. Naughton continued his season-long dominance in the Butterfly events in the Wildcats' win against a top-25 ranked Minnesota program. Naughton took the top spots in the 100 and 200 Fly events (45.99 and 1:42.62, respectively) and earned NCAA "B" Cut times in both. He was also a member of Arizona's winning 400 Medley Relay. Naughton currently holds the No. 9 time in the NCAA and No. 2 all-time record at Arizona for the 200 Fly (1:40.55). Naughton is also No. 18 nationally for both the 50 and 100 Fly (21.55 and 45.27, respectively).
This is DuBois' fourth Big 12 Diver of the Week award this season. Against the Golden Gophers, DuBois earned podium finishes, including one first-place victory, in both diving events against a top-25 ranked Minnesota program. DuBois was dominant in the men's 1m, scoring 24 points higher than the second-place competitor from Minnesota.
This is the second time Earley has received Big 12 Diver of the Week. Earley tallied 13 points for the Wildcats in Arizona's win against No. 23 Minnesota on Saturday, taking first place in the Women's 1m (303.15) and second in the Women's 3m (310.73). This was Earley's season-best dual meet performance in the 1m.
