WAC Swimming and Diving Awards 2023: Wen Zhang, Pia Murray, and Maria Brunleher emerge winner

The WAC Swimming and Diving Awards 2023 saw Wen Zhang as the swimmer of Male Swimmer of the Year, and Pia Murray and Maria Brunleher as the Female Swimmer of the year.

The WAC also announced awards for several other categories. Swimming awards for the diver of the year, coach of the year, diving coach of the year, etc. was on the list.

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WAC Swimming and Diving Awards 2023

Let's take a closer look at the winner of the WAC Swimming and Diving Awards 2023 in different categories.

Male

Gael Jimenez of California Baptist was awarded WAC Diver of the Year and Wen Zhang of the Air Force Swimmer of the Year. Kris Matuszewski of UNLV and Gael Jimenez of CBU shared the award for WAC Freshmen of the Year. Ben Loorz from UNLV and Jeff Couto from CBU were awarded the WAC Swimming and Diving Coaches of the Year, respectively.

• Swimmer of the Year - Wen Zhang
• Year's Swimming Coach- Ben Loorz
• Diver of the Year - Gael Jimenez
• Year's Diving Coach - Jeff Couto
• Freshman of the Year - Kris Matuszewski and Gael Jimenez

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Female

Pia Murray of Utah Tech and Maria Brunleher of Grand Canyon shared the award for WAC Swimmers of the Year, while Abigail Erickson of Grand Canyon was selected WAC Diver of the Year.

Naomi Slee of NM State won the WAC Freshman of the Year award, while Dan Kesler of Utah Tech won the award for best swimming coach and Nikki Huffman of Northern Arizona won the award for best diving coach.

• Swimmer of the Year - Pia Murray and Maria Brunlehner
• Swimming Coach of the Year - Dan Kesler
• Diver of the Year - Abigail Erickson
• Diving Coach of the Year - Nikki Huffman
• Freshman of the Year - Naomi Slee

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What is WAC?

The NCAA Division I conference is the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The WAC has member schools spread over a sizable portion of the western United States, including Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. The Western Athletic Conference, now in its 60th year of college competition, has some of the greatest programs in the country and is still growing.

In November 1962, the initial competition included New Mexico’s top-placed WAC football team and the men's cross-country champion Arizona. The Sun Devils of Arizona State won the tournament, earning the league its first NCAA title, less than three years after Arizona placed second in the NCAA College World Series.

Fresno State became the last member of the WAC to win an NCAA team title when it won the Collegiate World Series in 2008.

The WAC now recognizes winners in 20 sports, 10 of which are for men and 10 for women. The list of sports in WAC is as follows:

For Male

1. Baseball
2. Basketball
3. Cross country
4. Football (regular season only)
5. Golf
6. Soccer
7. Swimming and diving
8. Tennis
9. Indoor Track and Field
10. Outdoor Track and Field

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For Female

1. Basketball
2. Cross country
3. Golf
4. Soccer
5. Softball
6. Swimming and Diving
7. Tennis
8. Indoor Track and Field
9. Outdoor Track and Field
10. Volleyball