LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- Trinity University teammates Beau Tipton and Anthony Liva were named the league's male Swimmer and Diver-of-the-Year, respectively, based on exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. 2020 All-SCAC Men's Swim/Dive Team
Tipton, a junior from San Antonio, Texas, had the best season of his Trinity career. He posted a 1:48.54 time in the 200 fly at the Tiger Invite that secured his NCAA qualification (ninth in the event). He went on to compete at the US Open championships in December, narrowly missing a second swim in the 200 lm fly and closing in on the Olympic trial cut. At the 2020 SCAC championship meet, Tipton came away with two golds and a silver, individually. He set a new conference record in the 200 fly (1:48.60) and was less than a second off the record in the 500 free. He also helped the 800 free relay and 400 medley relays take gold at the meet (lead off 1:40.6 and fly leg 49.6, respectively). Tipton achieved all-SCAC in five events and earned his first SCAC Swimmer of the Meet title. In addition to qualifying for the NCAA championships in the 200 fly - the event he earned Honorable Mention All-American honors a year ago - Tipton was seeded 33rd in the 500 freestyle (4:34.17) and 38th in the 200 free (1:40.56).
Tipton, who also won the honor last year, is the seventh straight Trinity student-athlete to win SCAC Men's Swimmer-of-the-Year honors. He is the first male to earn back-to-back Swimmer-of-the-Year recognition since Trinity's Stephen Culberson took top honors in 2014 and 2015.
Liva, a junior from Arlington Heights, Ill., won every competition he was in this year, except for the meet against Division I Incarnate Word. He won conference titles on both the 1- and 3-meter boards at this year's championship meet, and his 576.40 on the high board established a new school record and was the second-highest in SCAC championship meet history. Liva was the only male diver from the SCAC to qualify for the NCAA regional meet.
The SCAC Diver of the Year award is the first for Liva and marks the fifth straight year a Trinity diver has earned the league's top honor.
In balloting that was conducted at the conference championship meet, the Trinity University staff - led by third-year head coach Scott Trompeter, along with assistant coach John Ryan, assistant coach Kimberly Jones, and diving coach Stan Randall - earned SCAC Men's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors. It marked the second honor for Trompeter since he took over prior to the 2017-18 season.