Press Release courtesy of the Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West announced on Tuesday the 2018 Swimming and Diving accolades after the 2017-18 season wrapped up on March 17 with the completion of the NCAA Championship in Columbus, Ohio. The annual awards recognize the outstanding swimmer and diver in the Conference. Student-athletes are nominated and selected by the head coaches of each member institution.
Colorado State junior Haley Rowley was named the Mountain West Swimmer of the Year for her season, which included a strong performance at the Conference meet. The native of Lafayette, Colorado scored 91 points during the meet, which was tied for the most of any swimmer at the event. She won the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:10.67 beating the NCAA ‘B’ Standard, and she swam the fastest time of the Championship in the 1650-yard freestyle. Rowley receiving the recognition marks the second time ever a swimmer from Colorado State has earned the award. The last Rams swimmer to win was Kristen Schneider in 2003-04. During the 2018 season, Rowley broke four school records and helped break CSU’s 800-yard freestyle relay school record.
Boise State head swimming coach Jeremy Kipp was named the Conference’s Swimming Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year. In 2018, the Broncos won their second straight Mountain West title and the fourth in school history. Kipp’s team won eight swimming events during the 2018 Conference championship, which includes four relay victories. The Broncos scored a total of 1,250 points during the championship meet, in part due to the effort of junior Abbey Sorenson, who was a member of each of the team’s relay victories and the winner of the 50-yard freestyle (22.53) and 200-yard backstroke (1:54.60).
For the sixth year in a row, Nevada’s Jian LI You was named the Conference’s Diving Coach of the Year, and for the second consecutive year Wolf Pack senior Sharae Zheng was named MW Diver of the Year. You, who is in her 22nd season, has now coached four student-athletes to the award in the six seasons the Wolf Pack have been in the MW.
In 2018, Zheng finished in first-place for the third consecutive year as the winner in the one-meter and three-meter diving events at the Conference championship. Zheng became only the third diver in Conference history to sweep all the diving events at the Conference meet (Tawni Jones, BYU (2008), Krysta Palmer, Nevada (2015), Sharae Zheng, Nevada (2018)), and the second member of the Wolf Pack to accomplish the feat. Zheng finished her senior season winning medals at the NCAA Championship, finishing as the runner-up in the three-meter diving event and third in the one-meter diving event.
Swimmer of the Year: Haley Rowley, Jr., Colorado State
Diver of the Year: Sharae Zheng, Sr., Nevada
Swimming Coach of the Year: Jeremy Kipp, Boise State
Diving Coach of the Year: Jian LI You, Nevada