March 30, 2005
DALLAS--The 2004-05 Big 12 Conference postseason swimming & diving awards were selected by a vote of the league's head swimming and diving coaches Wednesday.
League honors were awarded to the following individuals: Men: Swimmer of the Year: Garrett Weber-Gale (Texas); Diver of the Year: Eric Sehn (Texas A&M); Newcomer of the Year: Matthew McGinnis (Texas); Swimming Coach of the Year: Jay Holmes; Diving Coach of the Year: Kevin Wright (Texas A&M). Women: Swimmer of the Year: Sarah Wanezek (Texas); Diver of the Year: Rosie Whiting (Texas A&M); Newcomer of the Year: Hayley McGregory (Texas); Swimming Coach of the Year: Jill Sterkel / Mike Walker (Texas); Diving Coach of the Year: Kevin Wright (Texas A&M).
In his 13th year at A&M, Wright helped lead both the Aggie men and women squads to second-place finishes at the 2005 Big 12 Championships this season in College Station, Texas, as well as a 14th- (women) and 15th-place (men) completion at the national championships this year. The Bangor, Maine, native has won eight conference coach of the year honors (1996-2002, 2005), the most of any coach in any sport in A&M history. Wright won the final Men's Diving Coach of the Year honor in the Southwest Conference in 1996. Wright is one of only two coaches in the Big 12 to win Women's Diving Coach of the Year, since the turn of the century. Wright has guided seven different divers to conference Diver of the Year honors as well.
Holmes garners Big 12 Swimming Coach of the Year honors after his first season as the A&M men's head coach. He had spent all 18 years of his coaching career as an assistant coach at A&M and is a main contributor to the Aggie string of 10-straight Top 25 finishes at the NCAA Championships. Nearly all of the Aggie school record have been set during Holmes' tenure, with many of them coming over the past five years.
Weber-Gale was honored as Swimmer of the Year for his first time. The sophomore also received both newcomer accolades (championships meet and the year) last season. The Fox, Wis., product won the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard free, 400-yard medley relay (final leg), 800-yard freestyle relay (third leg), 200-yard freestyle relay (final leg) and 400-yard freestyle relay (final leg) along with a second-place completion in the 200 free at the 2005 league championship. At the 2005 NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., Weber-Gale earned All-America honors in six events (three individual, three relay).
Sehn, a Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, native, ended a fantastic freshman year by earning A&M's highest diving finish at the NCAA meet in six years along with three All-America titles. Sehn and teammate David Kalec became the first pair in A&M swimming & diving history to qualify for an individual final in the same event. A&M's fab freshman pair scored 47 of the team's 88 points for the meet while Sehn set an A&M school record for points by an A&M diver at the NCAA Championships with 35. Sehn also became only the second diver in Texas A&M history to score on all three boards (Mark Naftanel, 1999) doing so in his first-ever NCAA meet.
McGinnis had a stellar first season with the Longhorns. The native of Raleigh, N.C., won the 500-yard freestyle title with a season-best time and the 200-yard freestyle to capture two Big 12 titles at this year's conference meet. He then went on to claim five All-America honors in five events (three individual, two relay) at the national championship.
On the women's side, Wanezek picks up her third consecutive Swimmer of the Year honors in addition to doing the same at the league meet. Wanezek closed out her stellar collegiate career at UT by swimming seven events at the 2005 NCAA Championships in West Lafayette, Ind., earning All-America recognition and posting Texas' top performance in each one. The Brookfield, Wis., product upped her career totals to 16 All-America honors and eight All-America Honorable Mention awards. She placed second in the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relay (final leg), fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay (leadoff leg), and fifth in the 400-yard medley relay (third leg - butterfly) with a UT record time.
Wanezek's coaches Jill Sterkel and Mike Walker guided Texas to the Big 12's highest team finish in sixth place at the 2005 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships. It was the Longhorns' sixth straight Top 10 finish. It is the 12th Top 10 finish overall for Sterkel-led teams and the Longhorns have done so in all five years that Walker has been apart of the program. They led a league-leading 15 student-athletes to nationals this season. The duo also won their seventh-straight conference title in late February. The pair has received the Coach of the Year award for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Whiting clinches her first Diver of the Year award along with her earlier honor as Outstanding Diver of the Meet at the 2005 Big 12 Championships. The Burley-in-Wharfdale, England, junior became a two-time conference champ after triumphing in both the one- and three-meter diving competitions.
McGregory, a Houston, Texas, native, was a part of the fifth place UT record-setting 400-yard medley relay team (leadoff leg) at the national championships. She posted a backstroke split of 53.55, which ranks second all-time at UT in the 100-yard backstroke. McGregory also placed fifth as the leadoff leg in the 400-yard medley relay. She was named All-America in both events. At the conference meet, McGregory claimed her first league title in the 100-yard backstroke.
Big 12 POSTSEASON HONORS
Men
Swimmer of the Year: Garrett Weber-Gale, Texas
Diver of the Year: Eric Sehn, Texas A&M
Newcomer of the Year: Matthew McGinnis, Texas
Swimming Coach of the Year: Jay Holmes, Texas A&M
Diving Coach of the Year: Kevin Wright, Texas A&M
Women
Swimmer of the Year: Sarah Wanezek, Texas
Diver of the Year: Rosie Whiting, Texas A&M
Newcomer of the Year: Hayley McGregory, Texas
Swimming Coach of the Year: Jill Sterkel/Mike Walker, Texas
Diving Coach of the Year: Kevin Wright, Texas A&M