Men’s Swimming & Diving Award Winners of the Year Announced
Gehenio, Zelehowsky, Washington, Zanki, Mikhailichenko and Stevens Staff Take Top Honors
The Empire 8 Athletic Conference has announced the Swimmer, Diver Rookie and Coach of the Year awards for the 2016-17 men’s swimming and diving season. The conference coaches vote on the awards.
Stevens Institute of Technology took home three of the four major awards as Ethan Gehenio was named the co-Swimmer of the Year, freshman Tyler Zanki was voted the co-Rookie of the Year and the Stevens staff is the Coaching Staff of the Year for the third straight year. Ithaca College’s Adam Zelehowsky is the other co-swimmer and Andrew Mikhailichenko is the co-rookie.
Hartwick College’s Kyle Washington was tabbed the Diver of the Year.
Gehenio had a large hand in Stevens winning the UNYSCSA and Empire 8 Championship. Gehenio won the 50-yard freestyle (20.91), swam the final leg of the championship 200-yard medley (1:32.29) relay team and the 200-yard freestyle (1:23.55) relay team. The Annville, Pennsylvania native also swam the opening leg of the winning 400-yard medley (3:24.98) relay team and earned additional championships in the 100-yard backstroke (50.78), the 200-yard backstroke (1:50.64), and placed second in the 400-yard freestyle (3:05.82) relay.
Zelehowsky is the swimmer of the year for the second time in his career, previously earning the honor in 2013-14. He was the conference champion in the 100 free with a time of 45.93 and swam a B-cut time of 45.33 in the prelims. He also won the 200 freestyle with a B-cut time of 1:40.18. Zelehowsky swam the final leg of the 400 free relay with a split of 44.61 to help Ithaca win the event for the first time in E8 championship meet history. He swam the third leg in the second place 200 and 400 medley relays (1:33.87 and 3:26.56), the final leg of the 200 free relay (1:24.16) and placed second in the individual 50 free (20.99).
It is the first time in E8 history there has been co-rookies. Mikhailichenko is the fourth Bomber to earn the award, while Zanki is the fourth straight Stevens’ swimmer and seventh overall to be recognized as the rookie of the year. The two were highly competitive at the E8 Championships going head to head in the breaststroke events.
Zanki won the 100 breaststroke in a B-cut time of 57.26 to out-touch Mikhailichenko by .8 tenths of a second (58.06). The roles were reversed in the 200 breaststroke with Mikhailichenko winning in 2:05.31, a slim .42 seconds ahead of Zanki.
Zanki also competed in the 200 IM (1:58.02) and placed fifth, while Mikhailichenko swam in the 400 IM (4:14.20) and took seventh.
Mikhailichenko was a key factor in relays for Ithaca as he swam the second leg of the 200 and 400 medley relays and the lead off leg in the 800 free relay.
For the first time, the Diver of the Year is from Hartwick College. Washington was crowed the Empire 8 champion on the 3-meter board with a score of 343.50 and finished third on the one-meter with a score of 307.60.
Stevens head coach Lindsay DeLaRosby and her staff guided the Ducks to the UNYSCSA and E8 crowns for the fifth straight year. At the Empire 8 Championship, the Duck men earned 18 all-conference honors, including seven first team individual honorees, six second team individual honorees, placed first in four relays and second in the other relay.