INDIANAPOLIS—By virtue of their placement at the conference championship event, Great Midwest Swimming & Diving All-Conference honors, including individual awards for the 2022-23 year were announced Thursday.
 
To earn all-conference honors, the highest Great Midwest finish in each event was filtered out from the Mountain East Conference, from the combined results. The same process was applicable for determining second and third team all-conference honors as well.
 
Findlay swept all six individual awards for both genders as voted by the head coaches including Swimmer, Freshman, and Coach of the Year. Student-Athletes from Ashland claimed the Diver of the Year Awards.
 
A total of 28 Findlay student-athletes were awarded first-team all-conference to help the Oilers sweep the competition. The men hauled in their sixth trophy, while the women claimed their third G-MAC title.
 
In Canton, Daniel Garcia won four individual events and was a member of three first-place relay teams, earning him Men’s Swimmer of the Year. Garcia then went on to win a national championship in the 200 breaststroke while also earning first-team All-American honors.
 
Coaches voted Randy (Bruce) Keener, who won the 200 backstroke in Canton, Freshman of the Year. In Keener’s first collegiate season, he qualified for nationals, where he went on to place 26^th in the 200 backstroke.
 
On the women’s side, Freshman standout Emily Mears-Bentley swept both Swimmer of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards. Mears-Bentley won five individual events at the conference championship and qualified for nationals, where she placed 17^th in the 100 free. The freshman also earned second-team All-American honors in two individual events and one relay, as well.

Divers Maddi Whitticar and Joe Lenczyk from Ashland were named Female and Male Diver of the Year. 

Both divers took home the gold in the one and three meter dives for the Eagles. 

Findlay's Andrew Makepeace was the choice for the Great Midwest Coach of the Year for both men and women as the Oilers accumulated 1,966 points for the men and 1,889.5 points for the women. Makepeace produced 16 national-qualifying student-athletes and a national champion to close out the 2022-23 season. 

A full list of awardees can be found here.