University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers 2016-17 Season Rewind
4/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
The Golden Gophers recently wrapped up their season at NCAA Championships. 2016-17 saw the team earn individual championship titles, post impressive dual records and post numerous top times in program history. GopherSports.com took a quick look at some of Minnesota swimming and diving's season highlights.
SILVER AND GOLD
*Yu Zhou won her second NCAA championship in 3-meter diving, become one of the women's program's two athletes to earn multiple titles.
*The Gopher women also had three national runners-up. Sarah Bacon won silver in 1-meter and returning Olympian Kierra Smith (200 breaststroke) and Linsey Horejsi (100 breaststroke) both placed second with school-record times.
ALL-AMERICAN GOPHERS // Final NCAA Recaps with Full List: Men's | Women's
*Minnesota earned 14 women's (11 individual, three relay) and five men's (four individual, one relay) All-America honors at this year's NCAA Championships. Eight men and two women earned multiple All-America accolades.
*The Gopher men have earned All-America honors in at least one relay for 30 of the past 31 years. This year's 400 free relay contributed to that statistic.
*The women's team tied for its second-best finish in program history, placing 10th as a team.
Final Career All-America Count for Seniors - Total (Honorable Mention)
Men
Matt Barnard 5 (1)
Paul Fair 2 (2)
Daryl Turner 2 (2)
Jakub Maly 1 (1)
Women
Yu Zhou 7 (0)
Kierra Smith 7 (3)
Lexi Tenenbaum 4 (2)
MAJOR RECOGNITION
*For the third consecutive year, Zhou received Big Ten Diver of the Year recognition and Wenbo Chen was named Big Ten Women's Diving Coach of the Year.
*Chen was named the Division I Diving Coach of the Year by the CSCAA, and Lexi Tenenbaum was named CSCAA Diver of the Year after three All-America performances as a senior.
*Two-time Big Ten champion Tevyn Waddell was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
BIG-TIME BIG TEN PERFORMANCES // Final Big Ten Recaps: Women's | Men's
*Both teams placed fourth at this year's competitive conference meets.
*Minnesota's women won four gold medals, starting with the conference record-setting 200 medley relay of Tevyn Waddell, Lindsey Horejsi, Danielle Nack and Zoe Avestruz. Waddell won the 100 back, and Yu Zhou won both springboard diving events. Those five earned All-Big Ten First Team recognition.
*Kierra Smith was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team after two silvers (200 breast and a 400 medley relay) and a bronze (100 breaststroke).
*Jakub Maly earned a silver medal in the 400 individual medley and was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team.
*Daryl Turner, Conner McHugh, Tuomas Pokkinen and Bowe Becker earned the Gopher men's first relay medal in four years with a bronze in the 400 medley relay.
PROGRAM RECORDS SET THIS YEAR
Men's
100 free: Bowe Becker, 42.24
100 breast: Conner McHugh, 52.30
200 breast: Conner McHugh, 1:53.61
400 free relay: Bowe Becker, Paul Fair, Tuomas Pokkinen, Daryl Turner, 2:51.06 (broke 2005 record)
400 medley relay: Daryl Turner, Conner McHugh, Tuomas Pokkinen, Bowe Becker, 3:07.03
Women's
200 free: Danielle Nack, 1:44.39
1,650 free: Brooke Zeiger, 15:44.00 (Big Ten record)
100 back: Tevyn Waddell, 51.96
100 breast: Lindsey Horejsi, 58.03
200 breast: Kierra Smith, 2:03.55 (second-fastest in NCAA history)
200 fly: Danielle Nack, 1:55.67
400 IM: Brooke Zeiger, 4:02.71
200 medley relay: Tevyn Waddell, Lindsey Horejsi, Danielle Nack, Zoe Avestruz, 1:35.55 (Big Ten record)
400 medley relay: Tevyn Waddell, Kierra Smith, Danielle Nack, Zoe Avestrzu, 3:30.70
OTHER NOTES
*The Gopher men were 9-0 in dual meets including a 4-0 mark against Big Ten teams. The women were 8-1 with a 3-1 record in the conference.
*At AT&T Winter Nationals, Brooke Zeiger (400 IM, 1,650 free) and Bowe Becker (50 free, 100 free) each won a pair of events. The Gopher women won four relays.
*Head coach Kelly Kremer was part of the Big Ten's coaching staff for the USA College Challenge in November and a handful of Gophers competed for the conference's team, taking on members of Team USA.
Players Mentioned
