Kendrick and Grant Sweep MWC Swimmer of the Week Awards

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Junior John Kendrick and junior Rachel Grant earned the first Mountain West Conference Men’s and Women’s Swimmer of the Week honors of the 2009-10 season, respectively.

“John is way ahead of where he was last year when he came back from his mission,” BYU head coach Tim Powers said. “He has built on what he accomplished last year that he is now ahead by a significant amount.”

“Rachel had a great summer where she competed for Hong Kong in the World University Games,” said Powers. “She swam very good times at the Pacific Invitational and we are very excited that she is doing so well.”

Kendrick, who hails from Plano, Texas, earned more points for BYU than any other swimmer at the Pacific Invitational, held in Stockton, Calif., on Oct. 16 and 17. He won the 1650-yard freestyle in 16:11.36, which currently ranks sixth in the country. He also clocked a time of 1:41.97 to win the 200 free at the invitational. Kendrick also earned two relay medals at the meet, as the Cougars won the 400 free relay with a time of 3:08.18 and placed third in the 800 free relay at 7:05.52.

Grant, a product of Walnut, Calif., won four events at the Pacific Invitational to help the BYU women's team finish first. On Fri., Oct. 16, the junior picked up a gold medal in the 400 IM, after finishing the race in 4:21.25. She followed suit on Sat., Oct. 17, by taking first place in the 100 butterfly (56.52), the 200 fly (2:01.17) and the 200 IM (2:05.37).

Kendrick and Grant and the rest of the BYU swim and dive team will be back in the pool this Friday and Saturday to take on UNLV and Arizona State, respectively. Friday’s meet will begin at 6 p.m. and Saturday’s meet will begin at noon. The events are free and open to the public.