University of Massachusets Athletics
Swimming & Diving Holds End-Of-Year Banquet
May 07, 2007 | Men's Swimming & Diving
May 7, 2007
AMHERST, Mass. - Seniors Evan Swisher (North Bennington, Vt.) and Liz Lovejoy (Reading, Mass.) were named the Most Valuable Performers on Friday night as the swimming & diving teams held their end-of-season banquet to kick-off the annual Alumni Reunion Weekend festivities. Many parents and alumni were in attendance as head coaches Russ Yarworth, Bob Newcomb, and Mandy Hixon gave out team awards, presented the team captains for next season and honored the outgoing senior classes.
For Swisher, this was his second year being voted MVP by the men's team and coaching staff. Lovejoy earned her MVP honor after being named the team's Most Improved Swimmer the year prior.
Each team also gave out several other team awards. The Minuteman Award, which goes to those who exemplify the best qualities of a UMass swimmer, went to senior Jake Hogue (Grand Junction, Colo.) on the men's team and senior diver Melissa Pond (Wayland, Mass.) on the women's team.
The Most Improved award was presented to junior Zack Priest (Cranston, R.I.) and sophomore Cecelia Jenkins (Acton, Mass.), while the Rookie of the Year awards were presented to Justin Brooks (Dedham, Mass.) and Elizabeth Walsh (Marshfield, Mass.).
Two awards were presented for the two swimmers who showed tremendous work ethic over the course of the season. Sophomore Mike Prout (West Springfield, Mass.) earned his second consecutive S.T.U.D. Award for the men's team, while junior Samantha Demty (Seekonk, Mass.) earned the Spike Award for the women's team.
The men's team also presented the Diver Dude Award to R.J. Rappe (Farmington, Minn.) and the Iron Man Award to The Distance Group. The distance swimming group was made up of Justin Brooks, senior Derek Castellana (Bedford, Mass.), freshman Brendan Jones (Holmdel, N.J.), Mike Prout, sophomore Brad Sloan (Shrewsbury, Pa.), and freshman Tim Smith (North Andover, Mass.).
Freshman Juan Moliere (San Juan, Puerto Rico) was given the Coach's Award to round out the individual award ceremony.
Both team's also presented their 2007-08 team captains: Zack Priest, R.J. Rappe, junior A.J. Vozella (Weymouth, Mass.), and junior John Weaver (East Longmeadow, Mass.) for the men and Samantha Demty, junior Colleen McCann (Walpole, Mass.) and junior Allison Volpe (Pottstown, Pa.) for the women.
The Minutewomen are coming off their best finish at the Atlantic 10 Championships since winning the A-10 overall title in 2001-02. UMass finished the season ranked No. 20 in the CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major Poll.
Coming off its ninth A-10 Championship, the men's team wrapped up the season ranked No. 9 in the CollegeSwimming.com poll. The 2007 senior class will leave UMass with three A-10 Championship titles to their credit.
The Minutemen return 12 championship individual finalists for next season, while the Minutewomen return six.