AUSTIN, Texas -- The Big 12 Conference announced its annual postseason awards on Wednesday and four student-athletes - along with the coaching duo of Jill Sterkel and Mike Walker - received recognition. League honors were selected by a vote of the conference's head coaches.
On the women's side, senior Sarah Wanezek (Brookfield, Wis.) won her third-straight Swimmer of the Year Award with freshman Hayley McGregory (Houston, Texas) earning the Newcomer of the Year honor and the Longhorns' coaching tandem of Jill Sterkel and Mike Walker receiving Big 12 Conference Swimming Coach Award of the Year recognition.
For the men, sophomore Garrett Weber-Gale (Fox Point, Wis) earned the Swimmer of the Year honor while freshman Matthew McGinnis (Raleigh, N.C.) was tabbed the conference's Newcomer of the Year.
Earning her third consecutive Swimmer of the Year award, Wanezek capped her final conference meet by winning seven events - the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, the 100-yard butterfly, the 200- and 400-yard medley relay and the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay - to improve her total to 20 league titles overall. The Brookfield, Wis., native went on to post All-America honors in each of those events, highlighted by her second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, at the 2005 NCAA Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. Wanezek, the only swimmer in men's and women's Big 12 history to win Swimmer of the Meet and Year honors three times, finished her stellar career as a 16-time All-American and an eight-time Honorable-Mention All-America.
McGregory, a Houston, Texas, native, was a part of the UT record-setting 400-yard medley relay team that placed fifth at the national championships. She posted a backstroke split of 53.55, which ranks second all-time at UT in the 100-yard backstroke, and also placed fifth in the 400-yard medley relay. She was named All-America in both events. McGregory claimed her first league title in the 100-yard backstroke at the end of the conference meet.
Jill Sterkel and Mike Walker guided Texas to a sixth-place finish at the 2005 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, improving two places from the previous year. It marked the Longhorns' sixth straight Top 10 finish. Sterkel and Walker led a league-leading 15 student-athletes to the NCAA Championships this season after winning their seventh straight conference title in late February. The pair has received the Coach of the Year Award four times in the last five seasons.
On the men's side, Weber-Gale, who won conference swimmer of the meet honors last month after capturing league titles in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle as well as the 200-, 400- and 800-yard freestyle relays and 400-yard medley relay, garners the Big 12 Swimmer of the Year Award after earning All-America honors in six events - three individual, three relay - at the 2005 NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., last week. Notably, Weber-Gale also captured the Newcomer of the Meet Award during the championships and of the Newcomer of the Year Award as a freshman.
Meanwhile, on the heels of earning Big 12 Newcomer of the Meet accolades at the conference championships, McGinnis captured individual All-America honors in the 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyle while also earning All-America honors in the 400- and 800-yard freestyle relay at the NCAA Championships. McGinnis, a two-time Big 12 Conference Swimmer of the Month as a freshman, had captured conference titles in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle and the 400- and 800-yard freestyle relay at the conference championships in February.
BIG 12 POSTESEASON HONORS
Men
Swimmer of the Year: Garrett Weber-Gale, Texas
Diver of the Year: Eric Sehn, Texas A&M
Newcomer of the Year: Matthew McGinnis, Texas
Swimming Coach of the Year: Jay Holmes, Texas A&M
Diving Coach of the Year: Kevin Wright, Texas A&M
Women
Swimmer of the Year: Sarah Wanezek, Texas
Diver of the Year: Rosie Whiting, Texas A&M
Newcomer of the Year: Hayley McGregory, Texas
Swimming Coach of the Year: Jill Sterkel & Mike Walker, Texas
Diving Coach of the Year: Kevin Wright, Texas A&M
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