The Southeastern Conference announced the 2008 Men’s and Women’s Swimming awards today, as voted on by the league head coaches, following this past weekend’s championships.
 
Auburn’s Cesar Cielo was named Male Swimmer of the Year, while Tennessee’s Christine Magnuson was named Female Swimmer of the Year.  Georgia’s Chris Colwill donned Male Diver of the Year honors and LSU’s Rachel Ware was crowned Female Diver of the Year.  Freshman awards went to Georgia’s Mark Dylla for Male Swimmer and LSU’s Michael Neubacher for Male Diver.  On the women’s side, Tennessee’s Aleksa Akerfelds was named Freshman Swimmer and Kentucky’s Jessica Snowden was named Freshman Diver of the Year.  Scholar-Athlete of the Year was also announced and Florida’s Kevin Nead is the male recipient, while there are co-recipients on the women’s side with Tennessee’s Magnuson and Auburn’s Kara Denby. 
 
Auburn’s Richard Quick earned his first SEC Men’s Coach of the Year honor, while there was a tie for SEC Women’s Coach of the Year as Florida’s Gregg Troy and Tennessee’s Matt Kredich were both honored.  Auburn also nabbed Men’s Diving Coach of the Year with Jeff Shaffer and LSU’s Doug Shaffer was named Women’s Diving Coach of the Year. 
 
In his first year at the helm of the Tigers, Quick guided Auburn to its 12th consecutive SEC Championship Title, 14 out of the last 15 years.  The Tigers totaled 806 points, 144 ahead of second-place.  His men’s team earned 10 SEC titles and broke five SEC records at the meet. 
 
This marks the first Women’s Coach of the Year honor for Troy, his fourth overall, and the first for Florida Women’s swimming since 1996.  His team recorded 706 points to finish second, the Gators highest finish since 2003.  The Florida women won five titles, set five SEC records and six school records. 

 Kredich earned his first ever Coach of the Year honor as his Lady Vols finished fourth, their highest finish since 2004.  It is also the first Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year honor for Tennessee.

 Jeff Shaffer picked up his third Men’s Diving Coach of the Year honor, second consecutive.  Shaffer’s divers claimed titles on two of the three boards and finished second on the third. 
 
Doug Shaffer earned his first honor and it is the first for LSU diving since 2002.  Shaffer’s women won the platform and 1-meter and finished second on the 3-meter.      
 

Cielo earned his honor after winning the 50-and 100-free events for the third consecutive year.  Cielo set SEC records in both events as he won the 50 in 18.91 and the 100 in 41.78.  He broke the 100 record again as the leadoff leg in the 400 free relay when he clocked a time of 41.25, which Auburn also won.  In addition to the 400 free relay, Cielo was also on the winning 200 free, 200 medley, and 400 medley relays.  Cielo has now set the new Auburn record for SEC titles with 17 in his three years of competition.
 Magnuson set an SEC record in the 100 fly with a time of 51.00 and in the 200 free when she led off the 800 free relay with a time of 1:43.00.  She also claimed titles in the 50- and 100-free events, in addition to helping the Lady Vols capture the 200 free relay title.  Magnuson’s efforts also landed her the Commissioner’s Trophy, the female who earned the most points for her team.  Magnuson is the first Lady Vol to earn Swimmer of the Year. 
 

Colwill claimed his third Diver of the Year honor despite missing the meet to compete at the FINA Diving World Cup where he secured a spot on the 2008 US Olympic Team.  Colwill has led the league all season in diving competitions and has set school records on the 1-meter with 444.20 and 492.90 on the 3-meter. 
 Ware is the first Diver of the Year for LSU since Barb Gorst in 2002, fifth overall.  Ware won the 1-meter with a score of 315.55 and finished second in the 3-meter with a score of 328.85.
 
Florida’s Nead was named Scholar-Athlete as he boasts a 3.97 GPA in Zoology/Pre-Med.  This marks the second year in a row that Nead has been named Scholar-Athlete of the Year.  Nead rejoined his team in January after studying the genetics of Type II Diabetes in France for six months, thanks to his Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellowship.  As a result of his time in France, he is the co-first author of an article titled, “The genetic architecture of Type II Diabetes is modulated by obesity status.”  The journal will be submitted to Diabetes Care and has been presented at the French Association for the research on obesity and is scheduled to be presented at the French Association for the study of Diabetes and metabolic diseases at the end of March. 
 Magnuson continues to add to her list of accolades as she has a 3.70 GPA in exercise science.  The 16-time all-American has three SEC records and was named SEC Swimmer of the Week twice and the National Collegiate Swimmer of the Week three times.  She has been on the Thornton Center Academic Honor Roll all seven semesters she has competed at UT, ans was on the SEC Honor Roll each of the last three years.  Magnuson also competed at the Japan International Grand Prix prior to the start of the 2007-08 campaign, and is a member of the U.S. National Team.
 Denby is a 17-time All-American who has a 3.93 GPA in Zoology/Pre-med.  She was the 2007 SEC Swimming and Diving Female Scholar Athlete of the Year.  Including her win in the 100 breast and the 400 medley relay at this year’s SEC Championships, she is a five-time SEC Champion.  Selected to the SEC Academic Honor Roll, a CSCAA Academic All-American and a first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America, she swam for the US at last summer’s World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand, winning a gold medal on the 400 free relay team.   

2008 SEC Male Swimmer of the Year
Cesar Cielo, Auburn
 
2008 SEC Male Freshman Swimmer of the Year
Mark Dylla, Georgia
 
2008 SEC Male Swimming Coach of the Year
Richard Quick, Auburn
 
2008 SEC Male Diver of the Year
Chris Colwill, Georgia
 
2008 SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year
Michael Neubacher, LSU
 
2008 SEC Male Diving Coach of the Year
Jeff Shaffer, Auburn
 
2008 SEC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Kevin Nead, Florida

2008 Female Swimmer of the Year
Christine Magnuson, Tennessee
 
2008 Female Freshman Swimmer of the Year
Aleksa Akerfelds, Tennessee
 
2008 SEC Female Swimming Co-Coaches of the Year
Gregg Troy, Florida and Matt Kredich, Tennessee
 
2008 SEC Female Diver of the Year
Rachel Ware, LSU
 
2008 SEC Female Freshman Diver of the Year
Jessica Snowden, Kentucky
 
2008 SEC Female Diving Coach of the Year
Doug Shaffer, LSU
 
2008 SEC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Christine Magnuson, Tennessee
 
Women’s First Team All SEC
Kara Denby, Auburn
Margo McCawley, Auburn
Ava Ohlgren, Auburn
Caitlin Geary, Auburn
Melissa Marik, Auburn
Emily Kukors, Auburn
Maggie Bird, Auburn
Melissa Marik, Auburn
Gemma Spofforth, Florida
Caroline Burckle, Florida
Colleen Healy, Florida
Stephanie Napier, Florida
Rachel Ware, LSU
Paige Brown, LSU
Christine Magnuson, Tennessee
Lauren LeRoy, Tennessee
Michele King, Tennessee
Carly Mathes, Tennessee
Brittany Nauta, Tennessee
 
Men’s First Team All-SEC
Aaron Fleshner, Alabama
Scott Goodrich, Auburn
Michael Silva, Auburn
Alexi Puninski, Auburn
Cesar Cielo, Auburn
Kelly Marx, Auburn
Dan Mazzaferro, Auburn
Kohlton Norys, Auburn
Steve Scheren, Auburn
Bradley Ally, Florida
Clark Burckle, Florida
Shaune Fraser, Florida
Omar Pinzon, Florida
Sebastien Rouault, Georgia
Mark Dylla, Georgia
Nolan Morrell, Tennessee
Jonas Persson, Tennessee
Andrew Thirlwell, Tennessee
Michael Wolfe, Tennessee
 
Women’s Second Team All-SEC
Alana Dillette, Auburn
Emile Ewing, Auburn
Amanda Hartley, Florida
Stephanie Proud, Florida
Chelsea Nauta, Georgia
Kelly McNichols, Georgia
Morgan Scroggy, Georgia
Anna Miller, Georgia
Alek Putra, Georgia
Jessica Snowden, Kentucky
Jenny Bradford, Kentucky
Heather Bradford, Kentucky
Lauren Willis, Kentucky
Megan Pulskamp, Kentucky
Kari Retrum, Kentucky
Aleksa Akerfelds, Tennessee
 
Men’s Second Team All-SEC
Jordan Anderson, Auburn
Adam Klein, Auburn
Daniel Penniman, Florida
Grant Johnson, Florida
Roland Rudolf, Florida
Rexford Tullius, Florida
Troyden Prinsloo, Georgia
Will Vietti, Kentucky
Michael Neubacher, LSU
Nicholas Walkotten, South Carolina
Barry Murphy, Tennessee
Octavio Alesi, Tennessee
Nolan Morrell, Tennessee
Michael DeRocco, Tennessee