Arizona State’s Ilya Kharun (men’s swimmer), Charli Brown (women’s swimmer), Quin Seider (men’s co-newcomer) and Caroline Bentz (women’s newcomer) along with BYU’s Nathaniel Eliason (men’s co-newcomer), Kansas’ Shiyun Lai (women’s diver) and Utah’s Jesco Helling (men’s diver) were voted the Big 12 Swimming and Diving athletes of the week by a vote by league coaches.

Kharun took home seven gold medals including three individual titles as the Sun Devils competed against No. 1 Texas, No. 6 NC State and No. 18 Virginia Tech. The sophomore from Las Vegas was one of three Sun Devils to clock a sub-19 second time in the 50 freestyle (18.62) and the only one to swim a sub-44 second time in the 100 butterfly (43.90). Kharun rounded out his individual events with a time of 1:39.18 in the 200 butterfly, more than three seconds faster than the runner-up. Kharun finished with splits of 18.90 in the 200 medley relay (butterfly leg), 18.52 in the 200 free relay, 42.80 in the 400 medley relay (butterfly leg) and 41.03 in the 400 free relay. It is his sixth weekly award this season.

Brown swam a season-best in the 200 IM (1:57.50) and set a program record in the 400 IM (4:07.58) that has stood for eight years. The senior finished fourth overall in both events in the Eddie Reese Texas Showdown, which featured No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Texas and No. 8 NC State. She wrapped up her weekend with her third top-5 finish as a member of the 400 freestyle relay as the Sun Devils finished fifth in a time of 3:15.07.

Helling led the Utes to wins over both Pittsburgh and SMU. The Dresden, Germany native led Utah on the 1-meter dive finishing with the bronze medal with a score of 315.35. On the 3-meter dive, he finished the event with 343.90 points, good enough for fourth place. He joins teammate Elias Petersen as the second Ute to take home the Big 12 men’s weekly diving honor this season.

Lai tallied two top-2 finishes against Arkansas with a first-place finish in the 3-meter dive (340.05) and a runner-up result in the 1-meter dive (309.53). Lai was the lone diver for the Jayhawks to earn an event title against the Razorbacks and won by nearly seven points. It is her fourth award this season and the fifth of her career.

Seider clocked a season-best in the 200 freestyle (1:33.75) with a fourth-place finish in the consolation final. The freshman also participated as the starting legs in both the Sun Devil’s “B” team 200 free style relay that finished fifth (1:17.19; 19.35 split) and the 400 freestyle relay that finished fourth (2:49.81; 42.28 split).

Eliason won two individual events and added three relay titles as BYU defeated Air Force and Colorado Mesa. He began the meet by touching the wall in 1:36.91 in the 200 freestyle before recording a time of 44.08 in the 100 freestyle. The freshman was also a member of the 200 medley relay (1:27.26; 19.49 split), 400 freestyle relay (2:55.82; 44.10 split) and 400 medley relay (3:12.66; 43.64 split) that all finished atop the leaderboards. It is his third Conference award this season.

Bentz set two school ASU program records for the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle. The graduate student broke her record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.79, good enough for sixth place, before breaking the program’s 100 free record as the lead-off swimmer in the 400 freestyle relay (47.97). It is her fifth Conference award this season.

A full list of the season’s weekly Big 12 Swimming and Diving award winners can be found here.
 
Big 12 Swimming and Diving Weekly Awards- January 29
Men’s Swimmer of the Week: Ilya Kharun, Arizona State
Men’s Diver of the Week: Jesco Helling, Utah
Men’s Co-Newcomers of the Week: Quin Seider, Arizona State and Nathaniel Eliason, BYU
Women’s Swimmer of the Week: Charli Brown, Arizona State
Women’s Diver of the Week: Shiyun Lai, Kansas
Women’s Newcomer of the Week: Caroline Bentz, Arizona State