Press Release courtesy of the Marlins of Raleigh.
4 Marlins Of Raleigh (MOR) swimmers were named NC Swimmer of the Year at the recent North Carolina Swimming Awards Banquet held at Mckimmon Center at NC State. 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist Anthony Ervin was the guest speaker.
- Willis Casey Award-Named after NC State Athletic Director and long time swim coach Willis Casey. Given to the NC swimmer with the highest individual World Ranking. Previous winners have included Cullen Jones, Ryan Lochte, and Anthony Ervin. NC State and MOR swimmer, Justin Ress earned the Casey Award for placing 2nd in the World Rankings in the 50 Back. At just 20 years old, Ress is the youngest recipient in many years. Justin represented Team USA at the 2017 World Championships and was swimmer of the meet at the 2017 World University Games.
- Age Group Swimmer of the Year awards given to the swimmer with the highest individual ranking in their age group.
- 13-14 Swimmer of the year-Abby Arens MOR 1st 100 Breast
- 15-16 Swimmer of the year-Madison Homovich MOR 2nd 1000 Free. Madison also represented Team USA at the 2017 FINA World Jr. Championships in August, where she was voted team captain.
- 17-18 Swimmer of the year-Zach BrownMOR 5th 200 Fly.
- Franke Bell NC Swimming Sr. Coach Of The Year-MOR Head Coach Paul Silver for leading MOR to being the only NC Team to qualify as a Gold Medal Club in USA Swimming Club Excellence program along with 2nd place finish at the NCSA Jr. Nationals, and 1st place at both the NC Winter and Summer Sr. Championships. This is the 5th time Coach Silver has been named NC Coach Of The Year.
A Complete list of award winners at the NC Swimming Awards Banquet is below:
Age Group Swimmer of the Year (Highest National Ranking by NCS Athlete) | |||
11-12 | Female | Claire Curzan | RSA |
11-12 | Male | Nathan Jao | EAC |
13-14 | Female | Abby Arens | MOR |
13-14 | Male | Tim Connery | MAC |
15-16 | Female | Madison Homovich | MOR |
15-16 | Male | Ross Dant | YSST |
17-18 | Female | Olivia Carter | EAC |
17-18 | Male | Zach Brown | MOR |
Open Water Swimmer of the Year | |||
Female | Ashley Twichell | NCAC | |
Male | Chip Peterson | NCAC | |
Willis Casey Award (Top International Ranking by NCS athlete) | |||
Justin Ress | MOR | ||
Andy Craver Determination Award | |||
Sydney Parsons | YOTA | ||
Age Group Coach of the Year | |||
Andrew Rogers | YOTA | ||
Franke Bell Senior Coach of the Year | |||
Paul Silver | MOR | ||
NCS Team of the Year | |||
SwimMAC Carolina | |||
Phillips 66 Service Award | |||
Rebekah Allen |
For more information go to www.marlinsofraleigh.com
Awesome that NC’s Coach of The Year is named after Franke Bell. Very cool.