WAC Announces Men’s Swimming & Diving Postseason Honors
DENVER – Following a vote of the six head coaches, the 2021-22 WAC Men's Swimming and Diving individual awards have been named. Air Force's Wen Zhang was named WAC Swimmer of the Year. California Baptist's Evan Honer was named WAC Diver of the Year while fellow Lancer Remi Fabiani was named WAC Freshman of the Year. On the coaching side, UNLV's Ben Loorz was named WAC Coach of the Year and Wyoming's Ted Everett was named WAC Diving Coach of the Year.
Zhang earned the WAC Swimmer of the Year honors after winning three individual titles while breaking two conference records at the 2022 WAC Swimming and Diving Championship in Houston. He won 500 freestyle with a time of 4:16.15 breaking the previous record of 4:16.71 that was set in 2014. He then came back and won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:32.32 breaking the previous WAC record (1:33.65) that Zhang himself set in November. He closed the meet with a third win in the 100 freestyle (42.97).
Honer earned his second consecutive WAC Diver of the Year honors after winning two out of the three available diving titles at the 2022 WAC Swimming and Diving Championship. He won the 1-meter with a score of 331.85 and then the platform breaking the WAC Championship record that he set last year with a score of 392.85. He also placed third in the 3-meter (316.45).
Fabiani was named WAC Freshman of the Year after collecting a win and a runner-up finish at the WAC Swimming and Diving Championship. He won the 50 freestyle while setting a program record with a time of 19.23 and touched second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:34.51. He also anchored two of the Lancers' gold-medal-winning relays in the 200 medley (1:24.88) and 400 medley relays (3:09.17).
Loorz led the Rebels to their second consecutive WAC Championship, earning himself the WAC Coach of the Year honors. The rebels won a total of eight gold, nine silver and nine bronze medals. Under his leadership, the Rebels made their debut in the CSCAA Division I Top-25 poll when they were picked 23rd in the polls last November.
Everett earned his first WAC Diving Coach of the Year honors in his third-year coaching at Wyoming. The Cowboy divers collected three silver and one bronze medal at the WAC Swimming and Diving Championship. He was a coach at Utah before joining Wyoming at 2019. As a Ute, he coached the program to two conference championships and was named Mountain West Diving coach of the Year in 2000.