2017-18 Great Midwest Swimming & Diving All-Conference Team (PDF)


INDIANAPOLIS – Following the completion of the inaugural Great Midwest Athletic Conference/Mountain East Conference Swimming & Diving Championships and nationals, all-conference honors were announced by the league on Friday.
 
The Great Midwest also released individual honors tailored to include the 2017-18 year’s accomplishments and factor performances from the NCAA DII Championships that were conducted in North Carolina.
 
All end-of-the-year awards were voted on by the league’s five head coaches. The first, second and third team, all-conference selections were based on the merit of their Great Midwest-only finish in a certain event throughout the conference championship meet.
 
Findlay was crowned both men’s and women’s team champions at the G-MAC/MEC meet in Canton, Ohio, as the Oilers won a combined 33 event titles.
 
The Oilers earned Men’s & Women’s Athlete of the Year honors with senior Ben Rath and sophomore NCAA 100-yard breaststroke qualifier Hanna Cederholm. Additional honors went to Pedro Gaspar (Men’s Freshman of the Year) and Katherine Heeres (Women’s Freshman of the Year).
 
Findlay head coach Andrew Makepeace was voted as the conference’s coach of the year for his work with both the men’s and women’s programs.
 
Malone had nine men represented on the all conference second team while Davis & Elkins had four. Hillsdale had an impressive showing for the all-conference women’s second-team honors with seven honorees and Malone was next with five.
 
Findlay’s senior five-time Great Midwest Athlete of the Week Janko Radmanovic earned NCAA All-American status to close out his successful collegiate career with a runner-up finish in the 200-yard butterfly (1:43.15). Radmanovic was also a second-team All-American recently in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing ninth.
 
Men’s Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Year
Ben Rath
Findlay
 
Rath was also the G-MAC/MEC Championship Swimmer of the Meet, marking a full sweep for the senior in the pool of the top all-conference individual honors. He won four different individual events at the combined conference meet. Rath had the top time between both leagues in the 500 freestyle, 1,000 freestyle 1,650 freestyle while also recording the second-best time in the 200 freestyle and a top-10 mark in the 100 freestyle.
 
Women’s Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Year
Hanna Cederholm
Findlay
 
Just a sophomore, Cederholm boasted the top G-MAC/MEC season times in the both the 100 butterfly and 200 IM. She won both of those events at the G-MAC/MEC Championship while also helping the Oilers add team points with wins in the 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. Cederholm helped the Findlay women’s 400-yard medley relay grouping take its place on the awards podium for NCAA Second Team All-American honors. They finished 13th in the nation with their finals time of 3:45.96.
 
Men’s Swimming & Diving Freshman of the Year
Pedro Gaspar
Davis & Elkins
 
Gaspar made the second-team all-conference list along with teammates Javier Sanchez, Parker Giles and Ricardo Castan. The first-year swimmer dotted his name across the top performances list between the Great Midwest and Mountain East this year ranking second in the 200 backstroke and 1,000 freestyle, third in the 500 freestyle, fourth in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 100 backstroke. He also had top-10 season times in the 200 and 400 IM events and was a two-time conference athlete of the week.
 
Women’s Swimming & Diving Freshman of the Year
Katherine Heeres
Hillsdale
 
Heeres also earned conference athlete of the week status during her strong rookie campaign as she earned placement on the second team all-conference list. In her first year, she tied for third in the top performances chart in the 100 backstroke and swam the seventh-best time in the 200 IM. Heeres also clocked the sixth-fastest time in the 400 IM; she was also second at the G-MAC/MEC Championships in the 200 backstroke, breaking a school record in the process.
 
Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Coach of the Year
Andrew Makepeace
Findlay
 
The Oilers were dominant at the G-MAC/MEC Championships, had their men’s and women’s programs positioned in the national rankings and celebrated student-athletes being named All-Americans at nationals. Makepeace was also named the Women’s Coach of the Meet at the conference championships.