SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 19, 2026) – The Little East Conference (LEC) announced the weekly awards for women's swimming, and once again, the Golden Bears' Ella Smith was named an award winner. Smith was named the LEC Women's Swimmer of the week for the seventh time in as many opportunities given.
Smith earned this week's nomination and LEC Women's Swimmer of the Week award during Saturday's meet at Albertus Magnus College. Smith swam three individual events and one relay for the Golden Bears. Smith's first race was the 1650-yard Freestyle. In that race, Smith would win the race by just under 3.5 minutes, earned a program record in the mile with a time of 18:57.73, and at the same time, earned the 1000-yard Freestyle program record with a time of 11:25.86. Smith then swam the 100-yard Freestyle, where she placed second with a time of 55.98, and finished the individual events with the 200-yard IM, where she won the event by over ten seconds with a time of 2:18.01. Smith ended the meet by leading off the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay for WNE. Smith gave the Golden Bears the lead from the start and assisted the team in winning the relay with a season-best time of 1:50.04.
The Golden Bears will end their regular season on Saturday, January 24, 2026, at 1:00 PM inside the Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center pool at WNE. The team will be honoring Smith on Senior Day.