Virginia Dominates Annual ACC Swimming Awards
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March 31, 2004
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Atlantic Coast Conference announced its annual year-end swimming awards Wednesday (March 31) with the University of Virginia winning four of the six awards. Second-year Fran Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./Germantown Academy) was named the ACC Men’s Swimmer of the Year for the second year in a row, while UVa swept the ACC Rookie of the Year awards. First-year Vanja Rogulj (Zagreb, Croatia/Split) was named the 2004 Men’s ACC Rookie of the Year, while first-year Kimi Kelly (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Ursuline School) was selected as the ACC Women’s Rookie of the Year. Head coach Mark Bernardino was named the 2004 ACC Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year. The ACC’s annual swimming awards are voted on by the league’s eight head coaches.
Crippen, who was also named the ACC Men’s Swimmer of the Year in 2003, becomes just the second men’s swimmer to earn ACC Swimmer of the Year honors more than once. Brendon Dedekind of Florida State earned the honor three times (1997, 1998 and 1999). It is also the fifth consecutive year a Cavalier has been selected as the ACC Men’s Swimmer of the Year. Crippen was a four-time honorable mention All-American at the 2004 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, including individual honors in three events, while helping the Cavaliers finish 13th. He finished ninth in the 1500-meter freestyle, just one spot shy of earning first-team All-America honors, with a time of 15:08.54. Crippen was 10th in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 3:45.17. His time of 3:45.17 in the consolation finals was the fourth fastest of the evening session. In the 400-meter individual medley, Crippen was 11th as he touched in a time of 4:14.21. He also anchored UVa’s 800-meter freestyle relay for his fourth All-America certificate of the meet. The Cavaliers clocked a time of 7:17.45 to place 15th. At the ACC Championships, Crippen was selected as the Most Valuable Swimmer after winning the 500-yard freestyle and 400-yard individual medley as well as finishing second in the 1650-yard freestyle.
Rogulj was selected as the ACC Men’s Rookie of the Year, which marked the fourth consecutive year a Virginia swimmer has earned the award. Rogulj, a 2000 Olympian for Croatia, capped off a tremendous year by earning honorable mention All-America honors in the 100 and 200-meter breaststroke, as well as the 400-meter medley relay at the NCAAs. Rogulj was 10th in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:10.79. He missed qualifying for the championship final by just one one-hundredth of a second with his prelims time of 2:10.11. In the 100-meter breast, Rogulj tied for 14th place with a time of 1:00.82. He swam the breast leg of UVa’s 400-meter medley relay that won the consolation final with a time of 3:34.61. At the ACC Championships, Rogulj, won the 200-yard breaststroke and placed second in the 100-yard breast.
For the second consecutive year a Virginia swimmer was named ACC Women’s Rookie of the Year as Kimi Kelly was the recipient of the honor this season. Kelly earned first-team All-America honors with a sixth-place finish in the 1500-meter freestyle at the NCAA Championships. Kelly was sixth with a time of 16:04.99. She was also an honorable mention All-American in the 400-meter freestyle with a 16th-place time of 4:14.62. At the ACC Championships, Kelly won the 1650-yard freestyle and was runner-up in the 500-yard free.
Mark Bernardino was selected as the 2004 Men’s ACC Swimming Coach of the Year for the sixth consecutive year after leading UVa to its school record sixth straight ACC men’s swimming and diving title. It is the 11th time in 26 years he has been named the ACC men’s coach of the year and the 20th time overall (men’s and women’s combined). The Cavaliers also won the 2004 ACC Women’s Swimming and Diving title under Bernardino’s tutelage.
Florida State’s Emma Dutton was selected as the ACC Women’s Swimmer of the Year, while Florida State head coach Neil Harper was named the ACC Women’s Coach of the Year.