Annual Swimming and Diving Awards Announced
After sweeping the 2011 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC Swimming and Diving Championship titles, Geneseo came away with five major awards announced by Conference Commissioner Dr. Patrick Damore at the conclusion of the championship meet. New Paltz picked up two awards and Fredonia State earned one. All eight awards are voted on by the conference coaches.
Geneseo’s Wills DeMoulin, earned Male Diver of the Meet, won both diving events with 455.10 on the one-meter board and a score of 489.75 on the three-meter board. Both marks met NCAA qualifying standards. The one-meter board was a close margin with DeMoulin earning the top mark by a difference of .75 points, while he held a 29.80 point advantage on the three-meter.
Fredonia sophomore Sarah Ficarro earned the Female Diver of the Meet honor for the second consecutive year and sixth straight year a Blue Devil has earned the award. Ficarro successfully defended her SUNYAC 3-meter diving title with a NCAA qualifying score of 478.85 points outscoring 13 other women entered in the conference championships. She finished second on the 1-meter board with a qualifying score of 437.50 points, just 2.6 points behind first place.
Austin Brennan, a sophomore from Geneseo, was named the Outstanding Male Swimmer of the Meet after winning two events, finishing third in another and swimming on two winning relays to lead the men's swimming and diving team to their 13th consecutive SUNYAC championship with 854 points. Brennan won the 100-yard butterfly (52.00) and the 200 backstroke (1:54.80), finished third in the 100 back (53.64), teamed with juniors Josh Kaplan, Ken Pink and Dan Strothenke to win the 400 medley relay (3:29.40) and with sophomore Frank Schiappa, junior Aaron Wagner and Strothenke to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:07.95. Brennan is the first Blue Wave recipient to earn the honor since the 2004-05 season when Dan Allan, current Buffalo State Head Coach, won the distinction.
Senior Michelle Rodriguez won three events and swam on two winning relays to earn Female Swimmer of the Meet honors for the third straight year and lead the Geneseo women's swimming and diving team to their fourth consecutive SUNYAC championship with 771.5 points. Rodriguez won the 500-yard freestyle in an NCAA provisional time of 5:00.12, won the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:52.13 after posting an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:52.08 in the prelims and swam a provisional time of 51.44 in winning the 100 freestyle. Rodriguez teamed with Jennifer Anthone, Lauren Boyce and Elyssa Max to win the 200 free relay in a provisional time of 1:36.77 and with Max, Corinne Vairo and Anthone to finish second in the 400 free relay in a provisional time of 3:32.13.
Rodriguez also claimed the Grace Mowatt Award while New Paltz’s Rob Webb was voted the James Fulton recipient. The James Fulton and Grace Mowatt Awards are given annually to a senior male and female swimmer/diver based on the following criteria: All-America honors, All-SUNYAC honors, improvement throughout collegiate career and academic achievement.
Mowatt was an associate professor of Physical Education and the women’s swimming and diving coach for 30 years at Oswego. Rodriguez is the first Geneseo award winner since 2008 when Justine Diaz shared the honor and joins other Knight honorees Erin Walsh (2005), Michele Standora (2000), Sharon Clark (1995) and Lisa Heidt (1992).
Fulton coached at Brockport for 25 years, winning 78 percent of the team’s dual meets and three of the first five SUNYAC Championships. Fulton coached nine All-American swimmers and saw three of those swimmers become coaches of NCAA Division I programs.
Webb joins a distinguished list of former New Paltz swimmers who have earned this honor. Kent Yeung (2005), Jon Amoia (2003), Louis Petto (1994), Mark Sargeant (1989) and Paul Strothenke (1986) all are previous James Fulton Award honorees who have donned the blue and orange.
Third-year head coach Scott Whitbeck was named the 2011 SUNYAC Women’s Coach of the Year as a result of the Hawks’ outstanding three-day showing. New Paltz finished with 573 points just more than 100 points behind conference champion Geneseo. Whitbeck coached the Hawks to eight individual and four relay titles. The New Paltz women posted 15 NCAA provisional qualifying times including a new meet and conference record time of 1:46.44 in the 200 medley relay. Whitbeck becomes just the second coach in the history of the women’s program to earn the Coach of the Year distinction and the first since the 1997-98 season.
Men's swim head coach Paul Dotterweich was named the 2011 Coach of the Year after leading the Geneseo men to their 13th consecutive title and 18th in the last 22 years. Geneseo won 14 of the 20 events at the SUNYAC Championship en route to 854 points. It is the seventh men’s coach of the year honor for Dotterweich.
2010-2011 Team Standings, Champions and Awards
Finals Results
