March 1, 2011

PHILADELPHIA - After winning the gold medal in the 50-free and breaking a 29-year old school record in the same event at the 2011 Atlantic 10 Swimming & Diving Championships, junior Austin Thomas has been named the La Salle Student-Athlete of the Week, as announced by the Office of Athletic Communications.

During the Thursday preliminaries, Thomas' 20.42 in the 50-free set a new school record, breaking the previous mark of 20.73 set by Paul Jarvis in 1982.

In the finals later that evening, Thomas swam a 20.45 to finish on top.

Thomas was also part of the silver-medal winning 200-medley relay (1:30.51).

The Cherry Hill, N.J. native also touched fifth in the 100-fly (49.77) and seventh in the 100-free (45.84).

The Explorers finished third in the conference, while the women's team was tied for fourth.