O'Donnell, Sanchez Grab Top Men's Swimming & Diving Awards
Tim McDonnell
RICHMOND, Va. (April 6, 2015) – William & Mary junior
Jeremiah O’Donnell (Chapel Hill, N.C.) was selected as the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Men’s Swimmer of the Year and Drexel junior
David Sanchez (Marietta, Ga.) was selected as the CAA Men’s Diver of the Year in a vote by the league’s head coaches, the conference announced on Monday.
Joining with O’Donnell and Sanchez as award winners in men’s swimming and diving were Tribe freshman
Evan Baker as Rookie Swimmer of the Year and UNCW freshman
Devin Hall as Rookie Diver of the Year. William & Mary’s
Matt Crispino was voted the CAA Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year for the second straight season and UNCW’s
Beau Bunn was selected as the CAA Men’s Diving Coach of the Year.
O’Donnell becomes the second consecutive Tribe male to win the league’s top men’s swimming honor. He was named Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet at the 2015 CAA Championship, helping William & Mary win its first-ever men’s CAA title after garnering 60 points, which was the highest individual point total at the event. O’Donnell won the 200 individual medley and set a meet (and school) record with a time of 1:46.38. He also became the conference champion in the 400 individual medley (3:48.54, also a new CAA meet and school record) and the 200 breaststroke (1:57.39). On top of his individual accomplishments, O’Donnell was a member of first-place Tribe relay team that set a CAA record for the second straight year in the 800 freestyle relay.
For the second time in his career, Sanchez was chosen as the Most Outstanding Diver of the Meet and Men’s Diver of the Year. He also won the honor as a freshman in 2013, when he was tabbed Men’s Diver and Rookie Diver of the Year. More recently, though, at the 2015 CAA Diving Championships in February, Sanchez had a score of 373.35 in the 3-meter competition, good for first place. Amazingly, the junior recorded a second-place score of 324.10 in the 1-meter competition, just 2.2 points off from first.
Baker was responsible for 35 individual points at the CAA Championship, which was the highest amount achieved by any freshman in the meet. He posted a second-place finish in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:46.45. The freshman also set a new Tribe freshman record in both the 100 butterfly (48.36, seventh place) and in the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.77. Baker was a member of W&M’s 200 freestyle relay team which tied for second at the conference championship meet. He is the third Tribe freshman to earn CAA Rookie Swimmer of the Year accolades.
Hall is the second straight UNCW diver to win the league’s rookie honor on the boards. He placed fourth in the 3-meter competition with a score of 322.95 and was seventh in the 1-meter competition with a score of 240.80. His 27 points at the CAA Diving Championship was the highest point total accumulated by all freshmen. Overall, Hall is the fourth UNCW athlete to earn CAA Rookie Diver of the Year honors, joining his coach, Beau Bunn (1996), Kobi Salinas (2008), J.T. Perryman (2012) and Allen Crosby (2014).
Crispino, as mentioned, received CAA Swimming Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive season after guiding William & Mary to the program’s first men’s conference title. The Tribe never trailed atop the team leader board, collecting 784.50 total points over the four-day meet. Bunn was chosen as the CAA Diving Coach of the Year for the first time. He helped the Seahawks finish second as a team at the CAA Championship after the team grabbed 144 points alone in the diving portion.
In addition to the 2015 major award winners in men’s swimming and diving, the following individuals and relay teams received All-CAA accolades based on their performances at the CAA Championship. The CAA also announced the All-Academic team for swimming and diving.
50-Freestyle: Joel Berryman, Drexel; Alex Wood, College of Charleston; Billy Russell, William & Mary
100-Freestyle: Joel Berryman, Drexel; Billy Russell, William & Mary; Matt Hans, Towson
200-Freestyle: Dominic Breschi, Towson; Billy Russell, William & Mary; Alex Chialastri, Drexel
500-Freestyle: Cory Camp, Delaware; Matt Lowe, Towson; Matt McKenney, Towson
1650-Freestyle: Matt Lowe, Towson; Cory Camp, Delaware; Jon Burr, Towson
100-Butterfly: Justin Barden, William & Mary – t 1
st, Buckley Powell, College of Charleston – t 1
st, Kyle Lukens, Drexel
200-Butterfly: Matt McKenney, Towson; Evan Baker, William & Mary; Kyle Lukens, Drexel
100-Breaststroke: Matt Goetz, William & Mary; Marc Brittain, UNCW; Will Ryan, College of Charleston
200-Breaststroke: Jeremiah O’Donnell, William & Mary; Josh Zimmt, William & Mary; Will Ryan, Coll. of Charleston
100-Backstroke: Tim Ware, Delaware; Will Manion, William & Mary; Joel Berryman, Drexel
200-Backstroke: Will Manion, William & Mary; Justin Barden, William & Mary; Valtteri Halonen, UNCW
200-Individual Medley: Jeremiah O’Donnell, William & Mary; Will Manion, William & Mary; Alex Montes de Oca, William & Mary
400-Individual Medley: Jeremiah O’Donnell, William & Mary; Cory Camp, Delaware; Conrad Zamparello, William & Mary
200-Freestyle Relay: Drexel (Joel Berryman, Sean Swartz, Alex Chialastri, Mike Shaeffer)
Delaware (Tomas Elder, Greg Neidlinger, Alex Hillsley, Nicholas Badsky) – tie 2
nd
William & Mary (Billy Russell, Evan Baker, Risten Clarke, Taegan Clarke) – tie 2
nd
400-Freestyle Relay: William & Mary (Will Manion, Billy Russell, Risten Clarke, Taegan Clarke)
UNCW (Drew Gaertner, Adam Salzman, William Swiss, Alex Labonge)
Drexel (Joel Berryman, Sean Swartz, Alex Chialastri, Kyle Lukens)
800-Freestyle Relay: William & Mary (Taegan Clarke, Will Manion, Jeremiah O’Donnell, Billy Russell)
Towson (Dominic Breschi, Sawyer Martin, Jon Burr, Matt McKenney)
Drexel (Alex Chialastri, Ivo Pejovic, Ted Taylor, Kyle Lukens)
200-Medley Relay: William & Mary (Will Manion, Matt Goetz, Justin Barden, Billy Russell)
College of Charleston (Talmage Spence, William Ryan, Buckley Powell, Alex Wood)
UNCW (Valtteri Halonen, Marc Brittain, Zach Sowers, Ned Tyler)
400-Medley Relay: William & Mary (Will Manion, Matt Goetz, Justin Barden, Taegan Clarke)
UNCW (Valtteri Halonen, Marc Brittain, Zach Sowers, Adam Salzman)
Towson (Dominic Breschi, Jeremy Liu, Matt McKenney, Matt Hans)
One-Meter Dive: Giovanni Villanueva, UNCW; David Sanchez, Drexel; Chase Seymour, UNCW
Three-Meter Dive: David Sanchez, Drexel; Nathan Lane, UNCW; Giovanni Villanueva, UNCW
CAA Men’s Swimming and Diving All-Academic Team
Joel Berryman, Drexel Jr. Wellington, New Zealand
Alex Labonge, UNCW Sr. Greensboro, N.C.
Matthew Lowe, Towson Sr. Nassau, Bahamas
Ryan Natal, William & Mary Jr. Great Falls, Va.
Will Ryan, College of Charleston So. Westlake, Ohio
Tim West, Delaware Sr. Glen Allen, Va.