Houston and Utah led the weekly Big 12 Swimming and Diving awards with two apiece as the Cougars’ Hedda Grelz (women’s diver) and Lottie Cullen (women ‘s newcomer) were joined by Utah’s Erin Palmer (women’s swimmer) and Quinn Jones (men’s co-newcomer). Cincinnati’s Ramez Diaa (men’s diver), TCU’s Filip Suchanski (men’s swimmer) and West Virginia’s Joey Stebbins (men’s co-newcomer) rounded out the awards by a vote by league coaches.
 
Suchanski collected two top-2 finishes at the Sterkel Classic hosted by No. 1 Texas. The freshman took the backstroke event crown in a time of 1:42.69 and finished runner-up in the 100 backstroke with a time of 48.12. It is the first Conference weekly award of his career.
 
Palmer broke the program record in the 100 breaststroke that was set over a decade ago as she improved on her career-best from 2023 from 1:01.03 to 1:00.40. She added another individual win in the 100 freestyle (49.98) as well as two relay wins in the 200 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay.
 
Diaa highlighted his week by setting a program record in the platform dive against No. 11 Louisville. The 2024 Olympian tallied a score of 385.13 to set the Bearcats’ record with a score of 284.78 in the 1-meter dive. It is the second Conference weekly award of the season after earning the same accolade on October 16.
 
Grelz became the second Cougar to be named Big 12 Women’s Diver of the Week this season after her performance in Houston’s final dual-meet of the season against Rice. The fifth-year graduate student finished with scores of 315.83 in the 3-meter dive (first place) and 287.78 in the 1-meter dive (third place).
 
Stebbins posted the 10th-fastest time in program history for the Mountaineers in the 400 IM to finish second in the event. His time of 3:52.42 came in just over a second behind the winning time. The freshman added a fourth-place result in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:03.14 to conclude his meet.
 
Jones earned two top-2 finishes in the Utes meet against Wyoming and was one of 10 different Utes to win an event. The freshman took home the 1000 freestyle event title by touching in 9:25.69 and followed that with a silver medal in the 500 freestyle (4:34.83). He is the second Ute to earn a share of Big 12 Men’s Newcomer of the Week.
 
Cullen finished her freshman regular season strong with three gold medals, including two individual titles. The Houston native clocked times of 53.83 in the 100 backstroke and 1:57.49 in the 200 backstroke while also contributing as a part of the Cougars’ winning 400 medley relay (3:376.69).
 
A full list of the season’s weekly Big 12 Swimming and Diving award winners can be found here.
 
Big 12 Swimming and Diving Weekly Awards- February 5
Men’s Swimmer of the Week: Filip Suchanski, TCU
Men’s Diver of the Week: Ramez Diaa, Cincinnati
Men’s Co-Newcomers of the Week: Joey Stebbins, West Virginia and Quinn Jones, Utah
Women’s Swimmer of the Week: Erin Palmer, Utah
Women’s Diver of the Week: Hedda Grelz, Houston
Women’s Newcomer of the Week: Lottie Cullen, Houston