Swim Team Awards Announced

STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's College Swimming Head Coach Rick Horr has announced his 2009 team awards. Most Valuable, Most Improved and Monk Awards were presented to individuals on both the men's and women's teams.

For the men's program, Kevin Towne '12 (Shrewsbury, MA) is the Most Valuable Swimmer, Jose Azcona '12 (Nashua, NH) and Brian Grasser '12 (Groton, CT) share the Most Improved honors, and Kieran O'Connell '12 (Gloucester, MA) is the 2009 Monk Award Recipient.

Towne set five individual records and won two events in his rookie campaign en route to being named as the Monks' 2009 Most Valuable Swimmer. The freshman set three records while participating in the preliminary rounds of the 2009 NEISDA Championship; the programs first-ever trip to the event.

Azcona and Grasser participated in seven and nine events, respectively, during the 2009 season. Both swimmers saw their individual times steadily improve throughout the year.

The men's Monk Award recipient, Kieran O'Connell, broke three individual SJC program records and achieved one first-place finish as a freshman under the tutelage of Coach Horr.

The Saint Joseph's swim program continued to show development in its second year as a varsity sport. The women's squad posted a solid 7-1 record in eight meets and finished in second in the GNAC Championship meet in 2009. The men's team, despite going 0-4 this winter, set team records for points in a meet and lowest deficit and will look to build on the success of the underclassmen in the coming year.