Today’s the first day of June, but SwimSwam readers might not know that it’s also a swimming-related holiday.
Well, it is in Minnesota, at least, where state governor Mark Dayton declared June 1st to be a statewide day of recognition honoring the Minnesota Golden Gopher Swimming & Diving program for its four-peat as Big Ten Champions. (The official state proclamation is here.)
The day is officially christened as “Gopher Women’s Swimming And Diving Big Ten Champions Day” – it appears Minnesota doubled down on its swimming successes by also going for the Guinness World Record for “longest holiday title.”
The Golden Gophers are currently on a tear through the Big Ten, having won the conference title in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. This past year, Minnesota swept the conference’s annual awards, as well. The winners:
- Swimming Coach of the Year: Kelly Kremer
- Swimmer of the Year: Kierra Smith
- Diving Coach of the Year: Wenbo Chen
- Diver of the Year: Yu Zhou
Both Smith and Zhou would go on to win NCAA titles this season, Smith in the 200 breast and Zhou in 3-meter diving.
Minnesota graduated a big senior class this spring, but has a great recruiting class incoming, including Zoe Avestruz, the second-best high school backstroker in Minnesota history behind only Olympian Rachel Bootsma.
Does this mean we get free parking for the rest of the day?
Holy, eh!! I thought “Gopher Day” was in November…