Marchand, Durden Highlight Pac-12 Men’s Swimming & Diving Awards

Courtesy: Pac-12

SAN FRANCISCO – The Pac-12 Conference announced the recipients of the 2022 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming and Diving awards, as voted on by the league coaches. Léon Marchand of ARIZONA STATE was voted Swimmer of the Year and Freshman of the Year. CALIFORNIA head coach David Durden, who led the Golden Bears to their ninth all-time Pac-12 Championship victory followed by their seventh NCAA Championship title, earned his 11th Coach of the Year honor. ARIZONA’s Bjorn Markentin was voted Pac-12 Diver of the Year and Dwight Dumais was voted Pac-12 Diving Coach of the Year, while STANFORD’s Jack Ryan earned Pac-12 Freshman Diver of the Year. 

2022 MEN’S SWIMMER / FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Léon Marchand, Fr., ARIZONA STATE (Toulouse, France)

Marchand has been named Pac-12 Swimmer and Freshman of the Year after helping lead the Sun Devil Men’s Swim team to clinch its best finish at the NCAA Championships since 1982 and tallying 165 points across the Pac-12 and NCAA Championship events. The freshman finished his first season being named the CSCAA Men’s Swimmer of the Year. He is the second to garner both Swimmer and Freshman honors in the same year, joining USC’s Klete Keller (2001). 

The freshman captured three individual titles (200-yard IM, 400-yard IM, 200-yard breaststroke) and contributed to ASU’s 800-yard freestyle relay win to steer the Sun Devils to a third-place finish at the 2022 Pac-12 Championships, their best showing in 27 years. En route to being named the Swimmer of the Meet, Marchand also set a new Pac-12 record in the 400 IM with a time of 3:34.45, the fastest time in the nation this year and second fastest time in history. He claimed his first national title in the 200 IM with a time of 1:37.69 to set a new NCAA record, breaking Caeleb Dressel’s time of 1:38.13 set in 2018. Marchand added another NCAA individual title, taking first place in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:48.20, a new school record and also the second-fastest time in history behind Will Licon’s 1:47.91 (2017). The freshman also had one runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships, taking second place in the 400 IM. 

2022 MEN’S SWIMMING COACH OF THE YEAR: David Durden, CALIFORNIA 

David Durden was voted Pac-12 Swimming Coach of the Year for the fifth straight year and the 11th time in his career (2010-2014, 2016, 2018-22). Durden led the Golden Bears to their ninth Conference title in program history and seventh in his coaching career at Cal, finishing with a total of 853.5 points before leading California to secure their seventh NCAA Championship title with a total score of 487.5. Five of California’s seven national team titles have come under Durden (2011, 2012, 2014, 2019 and 2022). Guided by Durden, eight Cal swimmers finished in the top-20 of the conference in points earned across both championship events. 

2022 MEN’S DIVER OF THE YEAR: Bjorn Markentin, Jr., ARIZONA (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada)

Markentin was voted Pac-12 Diver of the Year after totaling 34 points across the 2022 Pac-12 and NCAA Championship events. The former Pac-12 Freshman of the Year (2020) earned top five finishes across all diving events at the 2022 Pac-12 Championships, totaling 1,065.2 points to finish the meet. Markentin finished as the runner-up in the 3-meter springboard with a finals score of 403.20. The junior also took third place in the platform event (344.65), and fifth place in the 1-meter springboard (317.35). The junior continued his success at the 2022 NCAA Championships, where he earned All-American honors in the 1-meter event, scoring 358.25 and earning a 7th place finish. 

2022 MEN’S DIVING FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Jack Ryan, Fr., STANFORD ( Denver, Colo.)

Ryan concludes his first collegiate season by being named Pac-12 Freshman Diver of The Year after totaling 49 points across the 2022 Pac-12 and NCAA Championship events. He is the seventh recipient in school history to be named Newcomer of the Year. The freshman made a strong impact at his first Pac-12 Championships, earning second place on the 1-meter springboard (367.30) and third on the 3-meter springboard (376.40) to finish among the league’s top freshman in both events. He also took eighth place in the platform competition with a finals score of 260.50. He competed at the Zone E Championships and earned NCAA bids in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events where he went on to finish eighth in the 1-meter competition with a finals score of 347.80. 

2022 MEN’S DIVING COACH OF THE YEAR: Dwight Dumais, ARIZONA 

In his fifth season as Arizona’s head diving coach, Dumais has been voted Pac-12 Diving Coach of the Year for the first time in his career. Dumais led the Wildcats to one of their most dominating performances yet at the Pac-12 Championships, as they finished the diving competition with 161 points. Dumais is the second coach in program history to be voted Pac-12 Diving Coach of the Year joining Omar Ojeda in 2015.