Feb. 9, 2016
Mountain West Release
RENO, Nev. - The Nevada swimming and diving team as swept the Mountain West's weekly awards as senior Yawen Li was named MW Swimmer of the Week and freshman Sharae Zheng was named MW Diver of the Week. It marks Li's second weekly conference award and the first career accolade for Zheng.
The duo were honored for the help in leading Nevada to a double dual victory two weeks ago against UNLV and Wyoming. Both Li and Zheng won two events and Nevada defeated rivals UNLV, 213-87, and Wyoming, 161-139.
Li - the reigning MW Swimmer of the Year - swam three personal season-best times and tallied three top-two finishes. The Wuhan, China native won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:15.48 and the 200-yard IM in 2:03.92. Li also placed second in the 200 breaststroke in 2:16.50. All three of Li's times rank in the top 11 of the MW this season.
Zheng, who joined Nevada over winter break out of Chengdu, China, won both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives to lead the Wolf Pack. Zheng tallied a season-best score of 364.90 on the 3-meter springboard and a score of 352.45 on the 1-meter springboard. Both of Zheng's dives set NCAA Zone E qualifying marks.
With Nevada's dual wins over UNLV and Wyoming, the Wolf Pack closed the regular season with an undefeated 10-0 dual record. Nevada returns to the pool with the Mountain West Championships from Feb. 17-20 in College Station, Texas.
