IRVINE, Calif. – The Big West announced it's weekly award winners for Athlete of the Week. This week, UC Santa Barbara's own Samantha Banos earned her second weekly award.
 
Banos swam non-suited in both Gaucho meets this past week against BYU, Utah and UCLA. In the meet against BYU the junior earned four first place finishes. She swam the 200 free, 500 free, 200 butterfly and helped the 400 relay team. In the 200 free she swam a 1:51.39 with an altitude adjusted time of 1:50.19. In the 500 free she swam a time of 5:03.19 with an altitude adjusted time of 4:58.19. In the 200 butterfly she recorded a time of 2:02.44 and an adjusted time of 2:01.44. In the relay she swam a 51.32 split to help the team to a first place finish.
 
Against Utah and UCLA she picked up three more first place finishes in the 200 free, 200 butterfly and 100 butterfly. Additionally, she helped the 200 medley relay team to a tie for second place.
 
The Gauchos return to the pool this Saturday, Jan. 18 as they head north to take on Pacific at noon.