University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Sweeps B1G Honors
3/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Big Ten Conference announced 2015 Big Ten Women's Swimmer, Diver, Swimming Coach and Diving Coach of the Year awards - and you'll recognize some familiar faces. Voted on by the conference coaches, Minnesota swept this year's awards. Breaststroke swimmer Kierra Smith was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, while teammate Yu Zhou was selected as Big Ten Diver of the Year. Minnesota's Kelly Kremer earned Big Ten Swimming Coach of the Year, and Gopher diving coach Wenbo Chen was selected as Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year.
Smith won the national title in the 200 breast at this past weekend's NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. Her time of 2:04.56 blew out the rest of the field, marked a new Minnesota school record and recorded Smith as the third-fastest performer of all-time in the NCAA. Smith also earned All-American status in the 100 breast, where she finished seventh with a 59.02. At the 2015 Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, Smith secured first-team All-Big Ten honors when she took the gold in both the 100 and 200 breast for the second straight year. Smith also broke the Big Ten record with a 2:05.69. This is the fourth time a Minnesota student-athlete was selected as Swimmer of the Year, and the first since Gretchen Hegener in 1997.
Sophomore Zhou claimed the national title in three-meter diving at the 2015 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. In addition, Zhou took bronze on one-meter and placed fifth in the platform competition. This marked her as the only diver at the NCAA Championships to place in the top-five in every event. Her performance also earned her NCAA Diver of the Year. At this year's Big Ten Championships, Zhou was named Big Ten Diver of the Championships after recording a first-place finish in both one and three meter diving, and taking home the silver medal on platform. The Gophers have claimed the Big Ten Diver of the Year award in five of the past six years.
Kremer earned the Big Ten Swimming Coach of the Year title for the fourth consecutive year, and fifth time in his tenure at Minnesota. Kremer has now personally coached three female breaststroke National Champions in the past five years (Jillian Tyler and Haley Spencer and 2011, and Kierra Smith in 2015).
Chen was selected as the Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year for the third time while at Minnesota. Chen also won the award in 2004 at Purdue. Kremer and Chen guided the women's swimming and diving team to their fourth-straight Big Ten Championship, and seventh for the program overall. This past weekend the Gophers earned a 12th place finish at the NCAA Championships. Kremer and Chen will also lead Minnesota at the 2015 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships this Thursday through Saturday.
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