INDIANAPOLIS- By virtue of their placement at the conference championship event, Great Midwest Swimming & Diving honors, including awards for the 2024-25 year were announced Wednesday 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 swimmers Randy Keener and Emily Mears-Bentley headline this year’s honorees as the Swimmers of the Year.
 
Mears-Bentley claimed the top honor for the third straight season after another all-American performance during 2024-25.  The junior qualified for a conference-high six events at the national meet, earning all-American honors in all six. At the conference meet, the junior took home the gold in the 200 IM, 100 fly, 200 fly, 100 free, and was a member of the 400 medley relay and 800 free relay. She led the Oilers to a ninth-place team finish at the NCAA Division II Championship.
 
Coaches voted Sophie Busby of Findlay and Matilyn Wilhelmsen of Hillsdale as the top freshmen in the league. Busby took home the gold at the conference meet in the 400 IM (4:30.11) followed by a runner-up finish in the 1650 free with a time of 17:28.29.  Wilhelmsen earned a third-place finish in Canton in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:24.65.
 
For the men, Randy Keener took home Swimmer of the Year honors after taking home five first-place finishes at the conference meet. Keener then went on to qualify for nationals in the 100 and 200 backstroke. In Indianapolis, he clocked a program record time of 1:45.06 for twelfth and second-team all-American honors.
 
The Oilers swept the individual swimming awards as Peter Helmuth was named Freshman of the Year. Helmuth, during his rookie season, qualified for nationals as part of the 200 relay team.
 
Divers Joey Lenczyk and Riley Hunt from Ashland repeated as male and female Divers of the Year. Both individuals took home the gold in the 1 and 3 meter dives at the conference championship and went on to qualify for D2 nationals.
 
Findlay’s Diego Santos was the choice for the Great Midwest Coach of the Year for both men and women as the Oilers accumulated 1,791 points for the men and 1,966 for the women. Santos led 16 student-athletes to qualify for nationals, 12 of which earned all-American honors.
 
A full list of honorees can be found HERE.