Ryan Murphy Named Pac-12 Swimmer Of The Year

The Pac-12 Conference named the recipients of the 2017 Men’s Swimming and Diving Awards today, as announced by the Conference office. CALIFORNIA’s Ryan Murphy was named the Men’s Swimmer of the Year for the third-straight year. Arizona State’s Cameron Craig was voted Men’s Swimming Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and his coach Bob Bowman was selected as Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year. USC swept the diving awards with Dashiell Enos taking home Men’s Diver of the Year, Henry Fusaro was voted Men’s Diving Freshman/Newcomer of the Year, and Hongping Li was selected as Men’s Diving Coach of the Year.

MEN’S SWIMMER OF THE YEAR – Ryan Murphy, California – Murphy takes home Pac-12 Men’s Swimmer of the Year honors for the third-straight year as well after helping the Bears to a national runner-up finish. With wins in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke at the 2017 NCAA Championships, Ryan Murphy finished his undergraduate career at Cal with a clean sweep of national titles in his signature stroke. Murphy became just the fourth swimmer ever to win a national title in both distances of one stroke in each of his four years in college, joining John Naber (USC), Pablo Morales (Stanford) and Brendan Hansen (Texas). Murphy also won Pac-12 titles in the 100 and 200 back, 200 free relay, 800 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay. And, the Ponte Vedra, Fla. native earned the prestigious Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for maintaining a 3.54 GPA while working towards a degree in Business Administration.

MEN’S SWIMMING FRESHMAN/NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – Cameron Craig, Arizona State – As one of the top recruits coming into his collegiate career, Cameron Craig has lived up to expectations for his freshman season, qualifying for the USA Swimming National Junior Team early in the season. The two-time CollegeSwimming.com Men’s Pac-12 Swimmer of the Week continued improvement throughout the season, winning Pac-12 championships in multiple events (100/200 free, 400 free relay). For his performance at Pac-12’s, he was named Swimmer of the Meet for the 2017 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships and earned Swimming World LumaLanes’ Performance of the Week. Going into NCAA’s, he had the second fastest 200 free time in the nation, eighth fastest of all time, and earned All-American honors in the 400 free relay and 200 free, also earning Honorable Mention All-America accolades in the 200 and 800 free relays and 400 medley relay.

MEN’S SWIMMING COACH OF THE YEAR – Bob Bowman, Arizona State – Bob Bowman, coach and mentor to some of the world’s most decorated Olympian, has transformed and revitalized the Sun Devil swim program over the last two seasons, as the men’s team was named most improved while the women’s was named second most improved in the nation this season. Under Bowman’s direction, the ASU men’s team jumped 30 spots at NCAA’s from a season ago and added 98 points to their team tally, garnering the most Sun Devil men’s All-American accolades since 2003. For Bowman, this is his third conference Coach of the Year title after earning two Big Ten Coach of the Year honors at Michigan.

MEN’S DIVER OF THE YEAR – Dashiell Enos, USC – Enos was the first Trojan to earn All-American honors on platform. He was a consolation finalist on 3-meter, the first time he had scored at the NCAAs, before earning his first-ever All-American honors on platform …  He was a three-time finalist at the 2017 NCAA Zone E meet to earn his NCAA bid, finishing second on 3-meter (732.50), third on 1-meter (694.50) and fourth on platform (706.55) … At the Pac-12s, he defended his 3-meter title with a career-best 428.35 while also finishing fourth on platform (335.95) and fifth on 1-meter (324.95) … He won seven events during the regular season … He teamed with fellow Trojan Henry Fusaro to win a 2016 USA Winter National title on synchronized 3-meter with 740.67 points in December. He also finished fourth in the 3-meter final with 1136.75 points, just some 50 points away from a top 2 finish.

MEN’S DIVING FRESHMAN/NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – Henry Fusaro, USC – Fusaro is a two-time NCAA consolation finalist on 1-meter and 3-meter … He earned his debut NCAA Championships spot after winning the 1-meter at the NCAA Zone E meet with 719.05 points. He was also seventh on 3-meter (688.65) … At the 2017 Pac-12 Championships, he was second on 3-meter (408.15) and was ninth on both 1-meter (284.20) and platform (269.85) … He won six events during the regular season … He teamed with fellow Trojan Dashiell Enos to win a 2016 USA Winter National title on synchronized 3-meter with 740.67 points in December. He also reached the final in 3-meter, taking 11th with 992.05, and was 11th in the prelims of 1-meter (320.45).

MEN’S DIVING COACH OF THE YEAR – Hongping Li, USC – Li led his divers to one title at the Pac-12 Championships. Pac-12 Diver of the Year Dashiell Enos claimed the three-meter title with a score of 428.35 while Pac-12 Diving Freshman/Newcomer of the Year Henry Fusaro took second in the event with a score of 408.15. This is the second-straight year Li has won Pac-12 Diving Coach of the Year.