ACC Announces Men’s & Women’s Award Recipients

The Atlantic Coast Conference has honored nine individuals as recipients of the 2016-17 Swimming & Diving annual awards, as announced Thursday. The winners were determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches.

NC State collected five accolades as Ryan Held was named Men’s Swimmer of the Year, Coleman Stewart was named Men’s Freshman of the Year, Ky-lee Perry earned Women’s Freshman of the Year and head coach Braden Holloway was voted both Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year.

Louisville’s Mallory Comerford once again earned postseason recognition as she was selected the Women’s Swimmer of the Year.

Miami’s Briadam Herrera and Randy Ableman was named the Men’s Diver and Diving Coach of the Year, respectively. Florida State collected women’s diving recognition as Molly Carlson earned Women’s Diver of the Year and her coach, John Proctor, was named Women’s Diving Coach of the Year.

Held is the fourth athlete in NC State history to be named both the ACC Championship Most Valuable Swimmer and ACC Swimmer of the Year in the same season. The junior collected three individual and four relay gold medals at the ACC Championships. At the NCAA Championships, he posted a runner-up finish in the 50 freestyle, a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle and was the lead-off leg in the winning 800 freestyle relay. The Illinois native currently holds conference records in four individual and four relay events.

Comerford is the third female athlete in ACC history, and first since 2012, to consecutively win ACC Freshman of the Year and ACC Swimmer of the Year. The sophomore made history at the NCAA Championships when she tied for first in the 200 freestyle. She had six other podium finishes, earning her All-America honors at the meet, and recorded two new conference records. At ACC Championships, Comerford had two first, two second and a third place finish.

Herrera earned All-America honors at NCAAs as the national runner-up on the 3-meter and placed fifth on the 1-meter. The junior diver won both events at Zone B qualifiers prior to the championship. The Cuba native collected the sixth medal of his career when he earned the silver on both springboard events. Herrera has earned a podium finish at every ACC meet of his career.

Carlson is the first female Florida State diver in ACC history to earn Women’s Diver of the Year honors since the award’s inception in 2005. The true freshman was named the ACC Women’s Most Valuable Diver at this year’s championship after winning gold on platform, bronze on 1-meter and placing fourth on 3-meter.

Stewart collected 68 vital points for NC State during the ACC Championships and was the lead-off leg on the first-place 200 medley relay team.  He earned All-ACC and CSCAA All-America honors in the 200 medley relay and 100 backstroke.

Perry earned the Wolfpack 66 points in her individual events at ACC Championships and was also a member of three first-place relay squads. At the NCAA Championships, the freshman swam on three relays that all recorded a top-10 finish.

In his sixth year at NC State, Holloway led the Wolfpack to a sweep of ACC titles. The women’s team claimed their first title since 1980 and finished NCAAs in seventh place. The men’s team won its third consecutive championship and finished fourth at the NCAA Championships, tying its finish last year as the best in conference history. Both squads went undefeated in conference action and were ranked in every College Swimming Coaches Association of America Poll—the men earning a ranking as high as No. 1.

Ableman guided Herrera and David Dinsmore to three top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships, which included the title on the platform for Dinsmore. The duo earned Miami 51 points to finish 21st in competition. Ableman also led the pair to four top-10 finishes at ACC Championships, where Dinsmore earned gold on platform and Herrera two silvers on springboard.

Proctor is the first Florida State diving coach in ACC history to earn Women’s Diving Coach of the Year honors since the award was created in 2013. He led Ayla Bonniwell and Carlson to three top-30 finishes at NCAA Championships and five top-eight finishes at the ACC Championship. The Seminoles had the highest women’s diving point total at the conference championships with 193 points.

2017 ACC Swimming & Diving Awards

• Men’s Swimmer of the Year – Ryan Held, NC State
• Men’s Diver of the Year – Briadam Herrera, Miami
• Men’s Freshman of the Year – Coleman Stewart, NC State
• Men’s Coach of the Year – Braden Holloway, NC State
• Men’s Diving Coach of the Year – Randy Ableman, Miami

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• Women’s Swimmer of the Year – Mallory Comerford, Louisville
• Women’s Diver of the Year – Molly Carlson, Florida State
• Women’s Freshman of the Year – Ky-lee Perry, NC State
• Women’s Coach of the Year – Braden Holloway, NC State
• Women’s Diving Coach of the Year – John Proctor, Florida State