Anu Nihipali of the Wagner women's swimming & diving team is the Walsh Electrical Contracting Female Student-Athletes of the Month for February. Nihipali had a spectacular showing at the 2014 Northeast Conference (NEC) Swimming & Diving Championships, helping the squad to its first-ever NEC Championship title while also taking home Rookie of the Meet and Outstanding Swimmer of the Year in the process. The Championships were held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA. The Seahawks scored 844 team points, the first team to break the 800 barrier since 2003 and only the fourth team since the first championship in 1999.
Not only did Nihipali earn gold during the finals of the 100-yard backstroke, the 200-yard backstroke, and the 200-yard individual medley events, but she also set the school records in each respective event. Nihipali's 100-yard backstroke time was a Wagner school record, in addition to being a conference record, as well as an NCAA Division I B-Cut time. Nihipali's also set the MIT pool record in the 100-yard backstroke event, a record that, up until Championships, was held by Olympian Elizabeth Beisel.
Nihipali also set the school record in the 200-yard individual medley event, ahead of setting the school and conference record in the 200-yard backstroke event. She was also a member of the school record-setting 200-yard medley relay, the 400-yard freestyle, and the 400-yard medley relay squads, the latter of which also set the conference record. Wagner earned silver in the 200-yard medley relay, while taking home the gold in the 400-yard freestyle and medley relays.
Following her success at NEC Championships, Nihipali competed at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships, earning both second-place in the 100-yard backstroke event, as well as another NCAA Division I B-Cut time. ECAC's were held in Annapolis, MD.
