Trinity's Culberson; Colorado College's Howlett selected as SCAC Male Swimmer and Diver of the Year

Trinity's Culberson; Colorado College's Howlett selected as SCAC Male Swimmer and Diver of the Year

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- Based on exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, Stephen Culberson of Trinity University was named the league's male Swimmer-of-the-Year, while Austin Howlett of Colorado College was selected the SCAC male Diver-of-the-Year for the third consecutive year.

A junior from Sugar Land, Texas, Culberson captured the NCAA Division III title in the men's 100 freestyle at the 2014 NCAA Championships in a new school and SCAC record time of 44.18 seconds. The individual national title marked just the 33rd for a SCAC student-athlete and the seventh in the sport of swimming and diving.

In addition to the national title winning and All-America performance in the 100 free, Culberson also earned All-America honors for his fifth-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking in at 20.37 seconds, as well as Honorable Mention All-America recognition as a member of Trinity's 200 freestyle relay (which placed in the consolation finals of the NCAAs and set a new SCAC record time of 1:21.60 at the conference meet).

Preceding the NCAAs, Culberson established new school and conference records in winning the 50 freestyle (20.25) and the 100 freestyle (44.62 - eventually bested at the NCAA national meet) at the 2014 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships. He also won the 100 butterfly (50.34) and earned SCAC Swimmer-of-the-Meet honors for his performance.

Culberson is the first Trinity male to earn SCAC Swimmer-of-the-Year honors since Dan Petersen in 2006 and the sixth all-time.

Howlett, a junior from Makawao, Hawaii, captured fifth place nationally on the three-meter board at the 2014 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. With a final score of 501.50, he was less than 35 points out of second while improving three spots from his showing of a year ago when he also earned All-America honors in the event with an eighth-place finish.

Howlett is Colorado College's fourth men's diver to earn All-America honors, joining Kris Hammond, Keith Kenner and Marshall Griffith. 

A month earlier at the 2014 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships, Howlett won the 1-meter board for the second consecutive year but was unable to defend his 3-meter title due to injury. The junior has won four of the five conference diving crowns in which he has competed during his three seasons in the league.

Howlett is just the third men's diver to earn SCAC Diver-of-the-Year honors three times in his career and the first since Dustin Schulten of Centre College earned the honor in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

In exclusive voting of the league's head coaches that took place at the 2014 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships, Trinity University's coaching staff - led by head swimming coach John Ryan and head diving coach Stan Randall - was named the 2014 SCAC Men's Staff of the Year.

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