SAN FRANCISCO – The Pac-12 Conference named the recipients of the 2016 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 second-straight year, while his teammate Andrew Seliskar was voted Men’s Swimming Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and their coach David Durden was selected as Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year. ARIZONA’s Rafael Quintero took home Men’s Diver of the Year while UTAH’s Connor Cain was voted Men’s Diving Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and USC’s Hongping Li was selected as Men’s Diving Coach of the Year.
Men’s Swimmer of the Year
Murphy, the 2015 and 2016 CSCAA Swimmer of the Year (three-way tie in 2016), takes home Pac-12 Men’s Swimmer of the Year honors for the second-straight year as well after helping the Bears to a national runner-up finish. The junior picked up his third-consecutive titles in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke at the NCAA Championships. One day after setting the American, NCAA and U.S. Open record with a 43.51-second backstroke leg in the 400 medley relay at the NCAA Championships, Murphy broke his own record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 43.49. Murphy broke his own American, NCAA and U.S. Open record in the the 200-yard backstroke as well with a winning time of 1:35.73. The 2014 Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Freshman/Newcomer of the Year helped Cal extend its streak, having finished first or second at the NCAA meet every year since 2010.
Men’s Swimming Freshman/Newcomer of the Year
Seliskar is honored as Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Freshman/Newcomer of the Year after winning three individual titles and three relay titles at the 2016 Pac-12 Championships. Seliskar’s titles came in the 200-yard butterfly, 200-yard individual medley, 400-yard individual medley, 400-yard freestyle relay, 800-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard medley relay. For his performance, Seliskar was named Swimmer of the Meet. He also performed well at the NCAA Championships, scoring 42 points individually (200 IM – 7th; 400 IM – 5th; 200 fly – 3rd) and 30 relay points (800 free – 4th). Seliskar is the third Golden Bear in the last four years to garner the Freshman/Newcomer of the Year accolade.
Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year
Durden has been named Pac-12 Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year for the sixth time in the last seven years after he led the Golden Bears to a third-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships and a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships. California won eight titles (five individual, three relays) at the Pac-12 Championships, the most of the six schools competing. Under Durden’s direction, Seliskar was named the Swimmer of the Meet after winning three individual titles and competing in all three of the Golden Bears’ relay victories. At the NCAA Championships, California claimed three individual titles (Ryan Murphy – 2, Josh Prenot – 1) and earned a top-two finish for the seventh-straight year. It is also the second-straight year and fourth time in the last six years that a Golden Bear has been named CSCAA Swimmer of the Year. Murphy has garnered the award the last two years.
Men’s Diver of the Year
Quintero is named the Pac-12 Men’s Diver of the Year after earning two runner-up finishes at the NCAA Championships. The senior scored 482.30 on the platform and finished with a score of 438.40 in the one-meter competition. Prior to the NCAA Championships, Quintero was the finisher in the two diving events at the NCAA Zone Championships. Quintero will compete at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics for Puerto Rico, placing in the top-18 in the preliminary round of the 2016 FINA Diving World Cup to automatically qualify. He was a two-time Pac-12 Diver of the Month on the year first Wildcat since Ben Grado in 2012 and the seventh all-time to be named Pac-12 Men’s Diver of the Year.
Men’s Diving Freshman/Newcomer of the Year
Cain is the first Ute in program history to win Pac-12 Men’s Diving Freshman/Newcomer of the Year. He competed in all three diving events at the Pac-12 Championships, finishing in 11th place in the one- and three-meter springboard competitions while taking 16th in the platform, adding 13 points to his team’s total.
Men’s Diving Coach of the Year
Li led his divers to two of the three titles at the Pac-12 Championships. Sophomore Dash Enos claimed the three-meter title with a score of 419.35 while two of his teammates, seniors Collin Pollard and Deon Reid, earned fifth- and sixth-place finishes in the event, respectively. Pollard went on to win the platform competition by scoring 427.70. Enos took fourth place on the platform while Reid finished seventh. At the NCAA Championships in the one-meter competition, Pollard scored 392.75 and took seventh place while Reid’s score of 367.95 was good for 10th place. This is Li’s second Pac-12 Men’s Diving Coach of the Year honor (previously in 2009) and the fifth all-time for the Trojans.
Press release courtesy of the Pac-12 Conference.
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