2005-06 NEWMAC Men's Swimming and Diving All-Conference
NEWMAC Announces Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Awards
WORCESTER, MA- The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) announced its men's and women's swimming and diving postseason awards during Tuesday's coaches meeting held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), as six of the 10 schools garnered at least one of the eight major honors.
A pair of first-time honorees earned NEWMAC Men's and Women's Swimmer-of-the-Year accolades, including Wheaton College junior Barrett Roberts (Portland, ME) on the men's side and Babson College sophomore Meg Lynch (Holden, MA) for the women. Springfield College senior Mike Shaw (Westfield, MA) swept the NEWMAC Men's Diver-of-the-Year award all four seasons while Smith College sophomore Shanti Freitas (Evanston, IL) picked up NEWMAC Women's Diver-of-the-Year laurels for the first time.
United States Coast Guard Academy's John Westkott was voted NEWMAC Men's Coach of the Year in his seventh season, while Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) third-year coach Dawn Gerken was named women's coach of the year. Peter Avdoulos was tabbed men's diving coach of the year in his 21st campaign at Springfield and Smith's Kim Bierwert earned women's diving coach-of-the-year laurels in his 29th season with the Pioneers.
Roberts, who is Wheaton's first All-America swimmer in program history, earned three all-conference team honors, broke a pair of NEWMAC meet records and posted an NCAA Division III national meet automatic qualifying standard at last weekend's championship. Roberts automatically qualified in the 100-yard freestyle in addition to turning in three provisional marks in the 50-yard free, 200-yard free relay and 200-yard medley relay events.
Shaw, a six-time All-America diver for the Pride, is the reigning national champion in both the one- and three-meter events. Named NCAA Championship Diver of the Meet as a junior, Shaw swept the one- and three-meter diving events at this year's conference championship for the fourth successive season.
Westkott picked up his third conference accolade after guiding the Coast Guard men to their fourth conference championship in the eight-year history of the NEWMAC. Avdoulos, who was honored as the national diving coach of the year in 2005, won the league award for the fourth straight season.