Last week, we covered the conference award winners for the Big Ten, SEC, and ACC. Here are the award winners for the Pac-12 and Big 12.
Pac-12 awards
Men’s Swimmer of the Year: Kevin Cordes, Arizona
Men’s Newcomer of the Year: Josh Prenot, Cal
Men’s Diver of the Year: Kristian Ipsen, Stanford
Men’s Coach of the Year: Dave Durden, Cal
Women’s Swimmer of the Year: Elizabeth Pelton, Cal
Women’s Newcomer of the Year: Elizabeth Pelton, Cal
Women’s Diver of the Year: Samantha Pickens, Arizona
Women’s Coach of the Year: Teri McKeever, Cal
The Pac-12 continued to exert its dominance on the swimming world, particularly on the men’s side; three teams (Cal, Arizona, USC) placed in the top four at the men’s NCAA championships, and another (Stanford) was just seven points/one relay DQ away from a top four spot, as well. In any other conference, Tom Shields, Vlad Morozov, or David Nolan would have received a plethora of postseason honors. Unfortunately, they share the territory with Kevin Cordes, and it’s hard to argue against the Wildcat sophomore being named Men’s Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year.
Cordes started off the year with two standout performances in early season meets. First, at AT&T Winter Nationals in Austin, Texas, Cordes set American records in both breaststroke events. Just weeks later, he flew to Istanbul, Turkey to compete for the United States at the Short Course World Championships, where he captured a gold and bronze medal. Any skepticism about whether Cordes was “too rested” for his early season meets was eradicated last month in Indianapolis. The Wildcat sophomore destroyed the field in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, smashing the NCAA, U.S. Open, and American records in each event. He followed that up with the fastest breaststroke split in history on the Wildcats’ winning 400 medley relay. Cordes was also named NCAA Swimmer of the Year for his efforts.
The Cal Bears won the other five major conference swimming honors, led by Elizabeth Pelton, who was named both Newcomer of the Year and Swimmer of the Year on the women’s side. The Towson, Maryland native and product of North Baltimore Aquatic Club captured individual Pac-12 titles in the 200 backstroke (also a meet record) and 200 IM, along with leading off the Bears’ winning 400 free relay. Three weeks later at NCAA’s, the freshman smashed the NCAA, U.S. Open, and Pac-12 record in the 200 back, and also registered a pair of runner-up finishes in the 200 free and 200 IM.
Guiding Pelton and the Golden Bears was head coach Teri McKeever, who was named Women’s Coach of the Year by her peers for the sixth time in her career. McKeever led the Cal women to a second place team finish in Indianapolis last month, their fifth straight top-three finish at NCAA’s.
On the men’s side, after leading Cal to a runner-up finish at NCAA’s and their first conference title since 1981 (breaking Stanford’s historic streak of 31 straight titles), Dave Durden was named Coach of the Year. Cal has seen nothing but success since Durden took over in 2007; they have finished in the top two at NCAA’s in four of his six seasons at the helm. This is the fourth straight season Durden has received this honor.
In his first season swimming for Durden, freshman Josh Prenot earned Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year honors. The Orcutt, CA native was one of the premier IMers in the NCAA this season, placing in the top five over both the 200 and 400 distances. He set a new Cal school record in the latter with a time of 3:40.49, the second fastest time ever for a college freshman (only fellow frosh Chase Kalisz has ever been faster).
Olympic medalist Kristian Ipsen of Stanford and NCAA champion Samantha Pickens of Arizona were named Male and Female Diver of the Year. Ipsen, a sophomore from Clayton, California, repeated as NCAA champion on the one-meter board, and also captured the three-meter title, thanks to a superb final-round dive to surpass fellow U.S. Olympian Nick McCrory. Pickens bounced back from an injury early in the year to take the one-meter title at the NCAA meet, making her the first female Wildcat to win a national title in diving, and the second Arizona diver to win Pac-12 Women’s Diver of the Year (Lindsay Berryman in 1999 was the first).
Big 12 awards
Men’s Swimmer of the Year: Michael McBroom, Texas
Men’s Newcomer of the Year: Cory Bowersox, Texas
Men’s Diver of the Year: Will Chandler, Texas
Men’s Coach of the Year: Eddie Reese, Texas
Women’s Swimmer of the Year: Laura Sogar, Texas
Women’s Newcomer of the Year: Chelsie Miller, Kansas
Women’s Diver of the Year: Maren Taylor, Texas
Women’s Swim Coach of the Year: Carol Capitani, Texas
Following dominating team performances at the Big XII championships, it’s no surprise the Texas men and women captured seven of the eight premier conference awards this season. The Longhorns swept the men’s awards, led by senior Michael McBroom, who was named Swimmer of the Year. McBroom won the 500 freestyle, and also repeated as Big 12 champion in the 1650, setting the Big 12 Championship meet record with a time of 14:33.53. Four weeks later in Indianapolis, he was runner-up in both distance events to Connor Jaeger of Michigan, breaking his own school and conference record in the 1650 (14:32.75).
At the helm for Texas’ 17th-consecutive men’s Big 12 title and 33rd top-five NCAA finish was Men’s Coach of the Year Eddie Reese. This marks the eighth straight year the Longhorn legend has received this honor, making it eleven total for his career (along with a remarkable eight NCAA Coach of the Year awards).
Under the direction of the legendary Matt Scoggin, a trio of Texas divers claimed the Male and Female Diver of the Year awards, along with Male Newcomer of the Year honors. In a remarkable comeback off a redshirt season where had major surgery to treat Crohn’s disease, Will Chandler was named Diver of the Year. Chandler recorded three top-two finishes at Big 12’s (second in the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, a victory in the 10m platform), along with a fifth place finish off the platform at NCAA’s. His freshman teammate Cory Bowersox earned Newcomer of the Year honors, an award that we typically see go towards swimmers. The Fairfax, Virginia native was conference champion in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, receiving the Big 12 Championships’ Diver of the Meet award in the process. Bowersox followed that up with a stellar NCAA performance, which included an All-American finish in the 1-meter event.
Scoggin also coached Maren Taylor to Women’s Diver of the Year honors. After redshirting the last year due to a nasty injury at the end of the 2011 season, the Longhorn junior returned to form this season, finishing seventh in the one-meter and 10th in the platform event at NCAA’s.
Former Georgia assistant and first-year Longhorn head coach Carol Capitani earned Women’s Coach of the Year honors after leading the women’s squad to their 11th Big 12 Championship and a 9th place finish at NCAA’s. The Longhorns have a good number of swimmers with NCAA finals experience returning next season, but Capitani will have to replace top sprinter Kelsey Amundsen and Laura Sogar. Sogar took home Women’s Swimmer of the Year honors this season after a fantastic NCAA performance that included an upset victory in the 200 breaststroke. Swimming out of lane one in finals, Sogar captured the 200 title, beating former NCAA champion Haley Spencer and current American record holder Breeja Larson to become UT’s first NCAA women’s swimming champion since all the back in 2001. She also earned All-American honors in both medley relays, as well as the 100 breaststroke.
The lone non-Longhorn winner was Kansas freshman Chelsie Miller, who was named Newcomer of the Year. Miller placed in the top four in both the 1650 free and 200 fly at Big 12’s, earning NCAA ‘B’ standards in both events.