INDIANAPOLIS—By virtue of their placement at the conference championship event, Great Midwest Swimming & Diving honors, including individual awards for the 2023-24 year were announced Tuesday afternoon.
 
To earn all-conference honors, the highest Great Midwest finisher in each event was filtered out from the Mountain East Conference, from the combined results.
 
Findlay swept all six individual swimming awards for both genders, as voted by the head coaches. Student-athletes from Ashland claimed the Diver of the Year awards.
 
A total of 35 Findlay student-athletes were awarded first-team all-conference to help the Oilers sweep the competition. The men hauled in their seventh trophy, while the women claimed their fourth G-MAC title.
 
In Canton, Tim Stollings won two individual events and was a member of three first-place relay teams, earning him Men’s Swimmer of the Year for the fourth time in his career. Stollings then went on to win a national championship in the 100 fly, registering a time of 45.96. This is Stollings’ second national title since winning the same event back in 2021. In addition to being a 2x national champion, Stollings added two first-team all-American honors and one second-team honors to his resume.
 
Coaches voted Santiago Arteaga, who won the 200 free in Canton, Freshman of the Year. In Arteaga’s first collegiate season, he qualified for nationals as part of the 400 relay team where he earned second team all-American honors.
 
On the women’s side, Emily Mears-Bentley was voted Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive season. In Canton, Mears-Bentley took home the gold in three individual events and was a member of four first-place relay teams. She qualified for the national event in the 100 and 200 fly, 200 IM, and 100 free. The sophomore went on to earn three first-team all-American honors in three individual events, including a program-best performance in the 100 free.
 
Sofia Lesmes Montes was voted as the league’s top freshman.  Lesmes Montes was a member of three relay teams that took home first place at the conference meet. The freshman currently holds the seventh-best time in the 100 fly in conference history.
 
Divers Joey Lenczyk and Riley Hunt from Ashland were named Male and Female Diver of the Year. Lenczyk took home the gold in the one and three meter dive while Hunt earned a first place finish in the three meter dive at the conference championship.
 
Findlay’s Diego Santos was the choice for the Great Midwest Coach of the Year for both men and women as the Oilers accumulated 1,869.5 points for the men and 1,948 points for the women. In his first year at the helm of Findlay’s swimming program, Santos produced 17 national-qualifying student-athletes and a national champion to close out the 2023-24 season.
 
A full list of honorees can be found HERE.