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Kierra Smith Named Big Ten Women’s Swimmer of the Year

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten announced the 2015 Big Ten Women’s Swimmer, Diver, Swimming Coach and Diving Coach of the Year awards, as voted on by the conference coaches. Minnesota’s Kierra Smith was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, while teammate Yu Zhou was tabbed Big Ten Diver of the Year. Gopher diving coach Wenbo Chen earned Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year, while Minnesota swimming coach Kelly Kremer secured Big Ten Swimming Coach of the Year plaudits.

Smith won the national title in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:04.56 at last weekend’s NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. She also recorded a seventh-place touch at the national championships in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 59.02. Smith secured first-team All-Big Ten honors this season with two first-place finishes at the 2015 Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 59.32 and the 200-yard breaststroke with a Big Ten record time of 2:05.69. The honor marks the fourth time a Minnesota student-athlete has earned Swimmer of the Year accolades, and the first since Gretchen Hegener in 1997.

Zhou also earned Big Ten Diver of the Championships honors following the 2015 Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. She won the one- and three-meter springboard titles at last month’s event, scoring 365.00 and 411.55 points, respectively. Zhou also earned gold medal honors in the three-meter diving event at the NCAA Championships, totaling 410.25 points, while taking third-place on one-meter (338.00) and fifth-place in platform diving (301.70). Minnesota has claimed the Big Ten Diver of the Year award in five of the past six years.

Kremer collects Big Ten Swimming Coach of the Year accolades for the fourth consecutive year and fifth time in his tenure with the Gophers. Chen earns Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year honors for the third time with the Gophers, while also winning the award in 2004 as the head diving coach at Purdue. Kremer and Chen guided Minnesota to its fourth consecutive Big Ten Championship and seventh overall, and the Gophers earned a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships last weekend.

Swim News Courtesy: Big Ten Conference

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Neil C MacLellan
9 years ago

Go Girl Go !

SWIMFAN
9 years ago

Not only did Kierra win the title she did so in convincing fashion.

Gophersrule
9 years ago

Kierra deserves the award for Big 10 Swimmer of the Year! She won a National Title: Martin did not… plain and simple. Martin’s signature event is the 50 free: not much improvement in that race this year. CONGRATS Gophers!

Badger
9 years ago

Ivy Martin is hands down the most impressive performer in the Big 10!

Big Ten
9 years ago

It’s because of the coach….

SUNY Cal
9 years ago

My vote is for Ivy Martin!! Contributed many more points for her team.

B1G Fan
9 years ago

No doubt that she had a great year, especially being able to end it with a dominant win in the 200 breast but how is it that she could’ve beat Ivy Martin for this title? Smith had a first and a seventh place finish, scoring zero relay points without really even performing her best on those relays while Martin had a second and fourth place finish individually and lead her team to scoring in 4 out of 5 of the relays. This one just seems kind of strange….

Swim2Win
Reply to  B1G Fan
9 years ago

Smith won a title. That’s how.

ReeceStyle
Reply to  B1G Fan
9 years ago

Would have to agree…an NCAA title is what it is, and I would no doubt vote Kierra big10 swimmer of the NCAA Meet- but Ivy Martin was solid gold all year. 7- time big10 Champ, set 4 big10 records throughout the season, multiple all-American honors, and we can’t forget about her 20.96 relay split. Ivy takes the cake in my mind. But I guess that’s why I am not in charge of making the decision, congratulations Kierra!

gpo613
9 years ago

Great job Kierra. Much improvement on 2013.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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