It was announced on Monday that the University of Redlands men's swimming & diving team and sophomore standout Chris Depew (Naperville, IL) both garnered honorable-mention recognition from www.collegeswimmingawards.com. In an open nomination process, numerous coaches, student- athletes, and sport administrators submitted nominations, which included over 100 individuals or teams from nearly 70 institutions. Among the honorees, the Bulldog men's swimming & diving team and Depew collected honorable mention as break-out performers during the 2010-11 campaign.
Earlier this season, the Redlands men's program captured its best finish at the NCAA Division III Championships with a seventh-place showing with only five swimmers. After helping the Bulldogs to a second-place performance at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships, Depew, senior Alec Alders (Pasadena, CA), juniors Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, CA) and Colin Gladys (Yorba Linda, CA), and freshman Clint Freeman (Brentwood, CA) went on to the national meet and rattled off numerous impressive efforts en route to collecting seven All-America and four All-America honorable mention nods.
The six teams that finished above them in the standings all competed with a full squad of 18 participants.
Depew garnered this recognition after an incredible run at the NCAA Championships, which moved him from a relay-only competitor as a rookie to finishing among the top four in three individual events for a trio of All-America honors. He finished as the national runner-up In the 200 IM with a time of 1:49.57, which was less than a half of a second off the championship standard. He took fourth in the 400 IM while dramatically improving his season-best time of 4:02.54 when he touched the wall in 3:56.18. Depew once again took to the winners' podium by placing third in the 200 Fly with a 1:48.22 mark.
Furthermore, Depew was a member of three All-America honorable-mention relays as well as the 800 Free Relay that posted a fifth-place time of 6:40.36, dropping more than six seconds from its previous-best mark, for an additional All-America nod.
For complete information 2010-11 College Swimming honors information please visit www.collegeswimmingawards.com.