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Bay City, Mich.--Lewis University's Kevin Coates (Louisville, Ky./Ballard) was named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's swimming and diving athlete of the year and Wayne State University's Joaquin Abascal Gallegos (Madrid, Spain/IES Ortega y Gasset) received freshman of the year honors and Paul Graham of Ashland was tabbed as coach of the year.

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Athlete of the Year
Kevin Coates - Lewis University
Junior - Louisville, Ky./Ballard
Freestyle/Butterfly
Junior Kevin Coates was officially honored by the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference on Monday as the Male Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Year.Coates took home conference championships in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle events. He earned the 500-yard freestyle title in an NCAA A swim of 4:32.76, the 1000-yard freestyle in an NCAA B time of 9:22.28 and the 1650-yard freestyle in another A cut time of 15:41.24. All three were Wayne State pool records. Coates’ three GLIAC titles are the fifth of his career. He won the 1000-yard and 1650-yard freestyle titles in 2007-08, earning him GLIAC Freshman of the Year. The last Lewis swimmer to earn Athlete of the Year honors from the GLIAC was Michael Lapustin in 2006-07. Lapustin won the 200-yard IM, 100-yard backstroke and 200 -yard backstroke at the GLIAC Championships that year. Coates will swim at the NCAA National Championships next month.

Freshman of the Year
Joaquin Abascal Gallegos - Wayne State University
Madrid, Spain/IES Ortega y Gasset
Breast/IM
Joaquin Abascal Gallegos (Madrid, Spain) was voted the GLIAC Men’s Swimming & Diving Freshman for the Year. He is the second Warrior in a row to earn the award and the fourth in program history. Abascal Gallegos claimed three individual conference championships (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 breaststroke) last week and was on three championship relays. His victory Saturday in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:01.01) broke his own pool record set in the prelims (2:04.92) and came in under the meet record of 2:02.98 set by former Warrior Christer Tour in 2008. Abascal Gallegos broke the 400-yard IM pool record of 4:04.17 set by current student assistant coach A.J. Erard in 2005, after tying Erard’s record in the prelims. He also broke the meet record of 3:58.43 established by Manuel Steim of Indianapolis in 2009 with a time of 3:58.19. Abascal Gallegos also won the 200-yard IM championship final in a time of 1:51.15, eclipsing the pool record he set in the prelims (1:52.50). He improved upon his prior NCAA "A" cuts in all three events.

Coach of the Year
Paul Graham - Ashland University
10th Season
Paul Graham is in his 10th season as AU’s head men’s and women’s     swimming coach. During his tenure he has guided the AU men’s team to a pair of GLIAC titles. Since coming to Ashland he’s also served as the meet director for the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships. A year ago, the Ashland men placed 18th at nationals and eight men earned All-America honors.

This Weeks Results

2010 GLIAC Swimming/Diving Championship

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1. Grand Valley State 866
2. Wayne State 710.5
3. Ashland 701
4. Indianapolis 512.5
5. Lewis 410
8. Findlay 163

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Upcoming Schedule

Saturday, Feb. 20
Findlay at Kenyon