Four win Athlete of the Week honors

The UAA named four Maroons Athletes of the Week on Tuesday. Third-year Ward Bortz and first-year Sasha Deriy won for men’s tennis, first-year jumper Myra Collins was honored for women’s track and field, and fourth-year heavyweight Sean Barnes was recognized for wrestling.

Bortz and Deriy won all three of their matches at first doubles in last weekend’s tennis action, and each went 3-0 in singles play. The two were critical in pushing the Maroons to a 3–0 record on the weekend, including a 4-3 win over eighth-ranked Coe College Saturday. Bortz was named for the second time this season in his first year of competition with the team, and Deriy won for the first time in his career.

Collins joined Deriy as a first-time honoree. The first-year provisionally qualified for the NCAA Div. III National Championship meet in the long jump with a 5.59-meter mark at the Chicagoland Championships February 18. Her victory in that event helped pace the women to an eighth-place finish at the meet.

Barnes won four matches at the Great Lakes Regional Championship Saturday to earn the heavyweight crown and his second season and third career Athlete of the Week award. The honor was his second of the season. The fourth-year’s win earned him a spot at the national championship meet March 4-5. He improved his season record to 30-8 as the team finished seventh of 15 teams at Regionals.

—Joe Katz