Guilford's Strong and Merritt Win Weekly ODAC Awards

Greensboro, N.C. (2/12/07) -- Guilford College's Ben Strong and Justine Merritt earned weekly honors from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), league officials announced Monday. Strong, who also won Guilford's Student-Athlete of the Week Award from Guilford's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), captured the ODAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week Award for the school-record fourth time this year. Merritt is the Quakers' first recipient of the league's Women's Swimmer of the Week Award this season.

Strong, a 6-11, 220-pound center, helped Guilford to a 3-0 week in ODAC action by averaging 26.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. He shot 63.3 percent from the floor, 85 percent from the free-throw line and led all scorers in every game. Strong compiled 22 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in the Quakers’ 86-72 win over Hampden-Sydney College Feb. 7. He made his first 12 shots from the floor and tallied 28 points and eight boards, both game highs, in Guilford’s 74-52 win at Bridgewater College Feb. 10. Strong made 14-of-15 field goals in the win. Less than a day later, he had 29 points and 16 rebounds in the Quakers’ 84-75 win at Eastern Mennonite University for his team-leading 14th double-double of the year. Strong added two blocks and made a career-high 13 free throws in 15 attempts in the game.

With his productive week, Strong broke his own Guilford Division III record with 529 points in a season and raised his career total to 1,286, the 16th-highest total in school history. He also eclipsed the 500 career rebounds plateau and has 534 boards in 74 games. Strong leads the ODAC in scoring (24.0 ppg.), rebounding (11.2 rpg.) and blocked shots (2.5 bpg.). He ranked seventh among NCAA Division III scoring and rebounding leaders through games of Feb. 4.

Coach Tom Palombo's Quakers (19-3, 13-3 ODAC) have clinched the number-two seed for the ODAC Tournament Feb. 22-25 in Salem, Va. Guilford was ranked 24th in the Feb. 6 D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and third in the NCAA Division III South Region Rankings through games of Feb. 4. The Quakers' 19 wins mark their most since 1979-80. Their 19-3 record is the club's best 22-game standard since 1974-75.

Merritt, a freshman breast-stroke and freestyle specialist, won two events and swam on a winning relay team in Guilford’s 118-74 home win over Salem College Feb. 9. She won the 50-meter freestyle in 31.23, the 100-meter medley in 1:16.06 and swam on the victorious 100-meter medley relay team, which won in a time of 1:10.85. The rookie contributed a team-best 20.75 points to the Quakers' victory.

Merritt has been Guilford's top swimmer this season and has five school records this year. She also contributed to the Quakers' record-setting relay squad in the 400-yard medley. Merritt's converted time of 1:08.52 in the 100-yard individual medley ranks first in the league this year and her school record-setting 2:45.33 in the 200-yard breast-stroke stands 11th in the ODAC.

Coach Steve Kaczmarek's Quakers ended the dual-meet season with a 3-6 overall mark (2-4 ODAC). Guilford concludes the 2006-07 campaign Feb. 16-18 at the Atlantic States/ODAC Championships in Radford, Va.

Guilford's SAAC is comprised of representatives from each of the school's 16 varsity teams. The group meets regularly to discuss the state of Guilford Athletics and seeks to build community among student-athletes and non-student-athletes on the campus. Recent Guilford SAAC activities include a canned-food drive to benefit local charities and dodgeball competitions among representatives from Guilford's administration and athletic teams.