Ginger Kiefer and Rémi Fabiani claimed Swimmer of the Year honors as the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) announced its 2024-25 postseason awards on Tuesday.
Kiefer, a sophomore at Idaho, went three-for-three individually at the 2025 WAC Championships three weeks ago, claiming the women’s 200 back (1:55.07), 200 IM (1:58.35) and 400 IM (4:13.43), setting best times across the board while scoring the maximum 60 points for the Vandals.
She also set lifetime bests in the 200 free (1:50.53), 50 back (25.98) and 100 back (54.44) on relay lead-offs, with Idaho snagging a 3rd-place finish in the 800 free relay.
Fabiani, a senior at Cal Baptist, was also perfect at the championships, sweeping the men’s 50 free (18.86), 100 free (41.83) and 100 back (45.40). He was even faster in the 50 and 100 free leading off CBU’s 200 and 400 free relays, clocking 18.82 and 41.23, respectively, to smash the WAC records.
His lead-off leg led to a new conference record for CBU in the 200 free relay (1:16.77), while he also led them off in 46.20 in the 400 medley relay en route to a WAC record of 3:06.35. The Lancers also won the 400 free relay with Fabiani leading off and placed 2nd in the 200 medley relay with him swimming the backstroke leg.
OTHER ATHLETE HONOREES
- Women’s Diver of the Year: Victoria Knapp (NAU) – Knapp swept the women’s springboard events, winning the 1-meter (280.60) for the fifth straight year while also claiming the 3-meter (305.05).
- Women’s Freshman of the Year: Beth Young (GCU) – Young led all freshmen with 36 individual points at the conference meet, winning the 100 breast (1:00.76) and placing 3rd in the 200 breast (2:14.75).
- Men’s Diver of the Year: Mario Del Valle (CBU) – Del Valle, a sophomore, repeated as Diver of the Year after winning his second straight title in the 1-meter event (405.90) while adding a win on platform (409.05) in a close battle.
- Men’s Freshman of the Year: Tanner Wilson (Air Force) – Wilson picked up a pair of 5th-place finishes in the men’s 100 and 200 breast to earn Freshman of the Year honors.
COACHING HONOREES
- Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Rick Pratt (NM State) – Pratt led the Aggies to a runner-up finish in the team race, scoring 534 points to narrowly edged out Grand Canyon (529). Last year, New Mexico State finished 3rd, 84 points back of the Lopes.
- Women’s Diving Coach of the Year: Nikki Kelsey (NAU) – Kelsey coached NAU divers to 1-2-3 finishes in both springboard events, with Knapp claiming the titles.
- Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Jim Bossert (CBU) – The Cal Baptist men finished just 26 points back of UNLV to place 2nd in the team race, nearly upending the Rebel’s title streak that was extended to four this year.
- Men’s co-Diving Coach of the Year: Miranda King (CBU) – King coached Del Valle to wins in the 1-meter and platform events, and the Lancers also had a 2-3 finish on platform.
- Men’s co-Diving Coach of the Year: Anne Schwemmer (UNLV) – Schwemmer coached Alex Vazquez to a conference title in the men’s 3-meter event, and he was also 3rd on 1-meter and UNLV’s Dima Tereshchenko was 4th on platform.
WAC NCAA SWIMMING QUALIFIERS
- Sofia Maksimova (CBU) – The lone WAC female swimmer to qualify for NCAAs, Maksimova qualified in the 50 free (21.94) and will also swim the 100 free (48.59) and 100 fly (53.20) at nationals.
- Rémi Fabiani (CBU) – Fabiani’s standout WAC performance earned him NCAA invites in the 50 and 100 free, seeded inside scoring position in both. He’ll also race the 100 back.
- Mark Kovacsics (CBU) – Kovacsics earned an invite in the 1650 free after clocking 14:48.48 en route to winning the conference title. He’ll also race the 500 free at NCAAs.
- Daniel Nicusan (UNLV) – Nicusan earned an invite in the 100 breast after winning the WAC title in 51.58, and he’ll also race the 200 breast and 200 IM.
Go Ginger! Congrats!