The Cornell men's swimming and diving team had their end of year banquet recently and announced their yearly award winners as well as electing the 2010-11 captains.
For the divers, the most valuable player award was given to junior Mike Sheppard, while freshman Mac Lewis picked up the hardest worker award. An experienced diver and three-year letterwinner, Sheppard posted a 288.95 in the 1-meter dive at the Ivy championships this year, good for fourth overall and breaking his own Cornell record from last season's championship. Lewis performed very well in his rookie season, having an especially good meet at Colgate where he finished second to classmate Jonathan Zollo on the 1-meter dive and won the 3-meter event.
There were co-winners of the swimming most valuable player awards, as both sophomore Michael Cai and junior Dean Holcomb took home those awards. A first-team All-Ivy award winner in the 200 breast, Cai's 1:57.17 at the Ivy League championships was an NCAA B time and broke his own school record set last year at the Ivy Championships by more than a second and a half. Cai remains the only Cornellian to post a sub-2:00 time in the event. He also set a school record in the 200 IM, with his time of 1:48.26 shaving .03 off Nick Campbell's time from 2009. Holcomb was a first-team All Ivy award winner in the 400 IM and received second team honors in the 200 fly. He won the 400 IM at the Ivy championships with an NCAA B cut time of 3:52.94, nearly a second faster than the runner up from Brown and two seconds ahead of his own record of 3:54.77 from last year's championships meet. Holcomb's All-Ivy performance in the 200 fly lowered his own career-best time by .2 seconds, which was also good for third all-time at Cornell.
The hardest worker awards in swimming also had co-winners with juniors Chris Keady and Jake Fisher both being honored. A repeat award winner in this category, Keady was also honored as a freshman. At this year's Ivy championships, Keady had a solid swim in the 200 back with 1:48.62 which was good for seventh all-time at Cornell, and he also possesses the second-best time in Big Red history in the 200 individual medley (1:49.68). A three-year letterwinner, Fisher had a good season and was part of the 400 medley relay team that beat Colgate by more than six seconds.
Senior Nick Campbell was the recipient of the team's career achievement award, while classmate Frankie Lacayo was honored with the team spirit award. Tri-captain Campbell capped off his career with a good swim at the Ivy championships this year where he made the B final. He currently holds Cornell's top mark in the 200 individual medley and is a member of the 200 medley relay team that also owns the top time, while holding the third best mark in the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 100 breaststroke. Lacayo was also a member of the winning 400 medley relay team that managed a six-second win against the Raiders.
The team overall achievement and leadership award was presented to senior Sasha Dobrolioubov for his leadership both in and out of the pool. Consistently one of the top performers on the squad for the Big Red, Dobrolioubov assisted in wins this season in the 200 medley relay vs. Brown and Binghamton and the 400 relay at Yale. Other 2009-10 highlights for him include a win in the 200 free at Colgate and the 100 free vs. Harvard and Dartmouth, and a second-place performance in the both the 50 and 100 free at Columbia. Dobrolioubov was named an honorable mention Scholar All-American in 2008-09.
The 2010-11 Big Red will look to the leadership of Jake Fisher, Anker Fog and Dean Holcomb as the team elected the three as tri-captains for next season.
