Big 12 Swimming and Diving Postseason Awards Announced

The Big 12 Conference announces the 2008-09 Big 12 Swimming & Diving  postseason awards. Honorees were selected by a vote of the league’s coaches.
 
Conference honors were awarded to the following individuals: Men - Swimmers of the Year: Jimmy Feigen (Texas), Boris Loncaric (Texas A&M) and Dave Walters (Texas); Diver of the Year: Drew Livingston (Texas); Newcomer of the Year: Jimmy Feigen (Texas); Swimming Coach of the Year: Eddie Reese (Texas); Diving Coach of the Year:  Matt Scoggin (Texas); Women - Swimmer of the Year: Kathleen Hersey (Texas); Diver of the Year: Jessica Livingston (Texas); Newcomer of the Year: Kathleen Hersey (Texas); Swimming Coach of the Year: Kim Brackin (Texas); Diving Coach of the Year: Matt Scoggin (Texas).
 
For the first time in conference history, three were dubbed Swimmers of the Year on the men’s side. Sophomore Boris Loncaric is the first Aggie to earn postseason swimming honors, while freshman Jimmy Feigen and junior Dave Walters also shared the honor for Texas. Freshman Drew Livingston earned Diver of the Year honors after winning his first NCAA title, becoming the league’s only individual national champion this season. Feigen also earned Newcomer of the Year after beginning his campaign with two individual titles and contributing to four winning relays at this year’s Big 12 Championships, including a second-place finish in the 100 freestyle at the NCAA Championships.
 
UT men’s head coach Eddie Reese garnered his seventh overall and fourth consecutive Coach of the Year accolade. The eight-time NCAA Coach of the Year guided his squad to its 13th Big 12 title and eighth second-place finish at the 2009 NCAA Championships, which included 11 top-three individual and relay finishes and five new American records. While, Longhorn diving coach Matt Scoggin received his fifth career, second straight, men’s Diving Coach of the Year accolade.
 
Freshman Kathleen Hersey was selected as the Swimmer and Newcomer of the Year on the women’s side. She had three individual and one relay first-place finish at this year’s league championship event, and had three top-three finishes at her first NCAA Championships. Texas senior Jessica Livingston ended her career by securing her third Diver of the Year honor, capping her four-year campaign with a total four league titles on the diving board.
 
Head coach Kim Brackin earned her first Coach of the Year accolade after leading the UT women’s squad to its ninth Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championship, the first during her three-year tenure. Brackin’s Longhorns led the league at the NCAA Championships placing fifth, its highest finish and point total at the meet since 2001. Likewise, Scoggin earned his fifth, fourth straight, diving Coach of the Year award on the women’s side.
 
MEN
Swimmers of the Year:                         Jimmy Feigen, Texas; Boris Loncaric, Texas A&M; Dave Walters, Texas
Diver of the Year:                                 Drew Livingston, Texas
Newcomer of the Year:                         Jimmy Feigen, Texas
Swimming Coach of the Year:              Eddie Reese, Texas
Diving Coach of the Year:                     Matt Scoggin, Texas
 
 
WOMEN
Swimmer of the Year:                           Kathleen Hersey, Texas
Diver of the Year:                                 Jessica Livingston, Texas
Newcomer of the Year:                         Kathleen Hersey, Texas
Swimming Coach of the Year:              Kim Brackin, Texas
Diving Coach of the Year:                     Matt Scoggin, Texas

Texas sweeps Big 12 women’s postseason awards
Longhorns sweep all five postseason awards handed out Monday by the Big 12 Conference.

Texas’ exceptional performances at the recent NCAA Championships produced a sweep of the league’s postseason awards handed out Monday by the Big 12 Conference. 
               
The league announced UT freshman Kathleen Hersey as its Women’s Swimmer of the Year and its Women’s Swimming and Diving Newcomer of the Year.  Senior Jessica Livingston was tabbed as the Big 12 Conference Women’s Diver of the Year, and head swimming and diving coach Kim Brackin was selected as the Big 12 Conference Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year.  Diving coach Matt Scoggin was named as the league’s Women’s Diving Coach of the Year. 
               
Hersey (Roswell, Ga.) secured three top-three individual finishes and helped two relays to third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships.  The Beijing Olympian placed second in the 200-yard individual medley (1:53.33) and the 200 butterfly (1:51.18) and third in the 400 IM (4:01.91) at the NCAA Championships.  She anchored UT’s 400 and 800 freestyle relays that placed third at the NCAA meet. 

Hersey set six new individual school records and five individual Big 12 Conference records during her stellar freshman campaign.  Hersey co-owns four school relay records and two Big 12 relay marks.  Hersey becomes the fourth Longhorn to be named the Big 12’s women’s swimmer of the year and the first since Elizabeth Wycliffe in 2006.  She is the fifth Longhorn to be selected as the women’s swimming and diving newcomer of the year. 

Livingston (The Woodlands, Texas) secured her third selection as the league’s women’s diver of the year after previously earning the nod in 2006 and 2007.  The 2007 NCAA platform diving champion, Livingston placed second in the platform event and fourth in the three-meter event last month at the NCAA Championships.  

Brackin earned her first selection as the Big 12s women’s swimming coach of the year after leading a formidable team that broke 14 school records and registered UT’s highest finish at the NCAA Championships (fifth place) since 2001.  Under Brackin, Texas landed five top-five individual finishes and three top-five relay finishes at the NCAA Championships.

Scoggin earned his fifth selection as the Big 12 women’s diving coach of the year.  Scoggin’s divers played instrumental roles in UT’s fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and its victory in February at the Big 12 Championships.  The Texas women’s divers racked up 74 points with five top-six finishes at the NCAA Championships after sweeping all three events at the Big 12 Championships.  

Longhorn men sweep Big 12 postseason awards for second consecutive year and fifth time overall.
Texas’ second consecutive runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships has yielded its second consecutive and fifth overall sweep of the Big 12 Conference postseason awards, as announced Monday by the league.
               
Freshman Jimmy Feigen and junior Dave Walters shared the league’s Men’s Swimmer of the Year honor with Texas A&M’s Boris Loncaric, and Feigen was tabbed as the league’s Men’s Swimming and Diving Newcomer of the Year.  Freshman Drew Livingston was selected as the Big 12 Men’s Diver of the Year.  Head coach Eddie Reese earned his seventh selection as the Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year, and diving coach Matt Scoggin was named the league’s Men’s Diving Coach of the Year for a fifth time. 
               
Feigen becomes the first Big 12 athlete to be named as the league’s Men’s Swimmer of the Year and Men’s Swimming and Diving Newcomer of the Year in the eight years that the awards have been distributed.  A Longhorn has earned at least a share of the Swimmer of the Year and Newcomer of the Year awards in all eight years. 
               
The fastest 19-year-old American men’s swimmer, ever, Feigen took second in the 50-yard freestyle (18.84) and the 100-yard freestyle (41.49) while setting new school records in both events at last month’s NCAA Championships.   The San Antonio native teamed up with Walters, Scott Jostes and Ben Van Roekel to set a new American record in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:15.90. 

Feigen and Walters struck again at the end of the NCAA Championships to set a new American record in the 400 freestyle relay.  The duo joined juniors Ricky Berens and Peter Jameson to break the American record Texas had set at February’s Big 12 Championships with a time of 2:47.02.

Walters (Yorktown, Va.) led off UT’s victorious 800 freestyle relay that set new NCAA, American and U.S. Open records at the NCAA Championships.  Notably, Walters led off the relay in 1:31.72 to break his own American record of 1:31.83 in the 200 freestyle.  Walters also took second in the 200 freestyle (1:32.59) and fifth in the 100 freestyle (41.97) at the NCAA Championships.   

Livingston (The Woodlands, Texas) becomes the fourth Longhorn to be named the Big 12 Men’s Diver of the Year.  Livingston became UT’s first NCAA champion diver since Troy Dumais in 2002 when he captured the one-meter event at last month’s NCAA Championships.  Livingston added a second-place finish in the platform event and a 14th-place showing in the three-meter event at the NCAA meet.

Reese landed his seventh selection as the Big 12 Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year after securing his eighth NCAA runner-up finish last month at the NCAA Championships to go along with his nine NCAA team titles.  Reese’s Longhorns set five new American records last month at the NCAA meet.  Texas has finished in the top-three at the NCAA Championships in 24 of Reese’s 31 seasons in Austin. 

Scoggin secured his fifth selection as the Big 12 Men’s Diving Coach of the Year on the strength of another productive postseason from the Texas divers.  In addition to Livingston’s NCAA top-two finishes, senior diver Jonathan Wilcox added a fifth-place finish in the one-meter event at the NCAA Championships.