PITMAN--The College of New Jersey’s junior Tom Medvecky and sophomore TJ Burns have been named the New Jersey Athletic Conference Men’s Swimming & Diving Swimmer & Diver of the Year respectively for the 2009-10 season. In total 31, NJAC student-athletes earned all-conference recognition in men’s swimming & diving during 2009-10. All NJAC special award selections were determined by a vote of the league’s five head coaches, while the NJAC all-conference selections were based on performances at the Metropolitan Conference Championships held at Rutgers University on February 19-21.
Medvecky garnered conference Swimmer of the Year honors for the second consecutive season after claiming NJAC championships as the top conference finisher at the Met Championships in the 500 freestyle (4:27.11), the 100 butterfly (50.79) and the 200 butterfly (1:50.84). In addition, he was a member of three NJAC Champion relays with top conference finishes in the 400 freestyle (3:04.03), the 800 freestyle (6:46.21) and the 400 medley relays (3:22.61).
Burns was selected as the 2009-10 NJAC Diver of the Year. Burns collected NJAC championships in both the one-meter and three-meter diving events with respective conference-best scores of 445.40 and 478.80.
Lion freshman Mike Caputo was selected as the conference Rookie of the Year, marking the second consecutive season that a Lion men’s swimmer has garnered the league’s top rookie honor. He claimed the NJAC championship in the 1650 freestyle by recording a conference best finish in a time of 16:12.52.
TCNJ’s head coach Brian Bishop was selected as the 2009-10 NJAC Men’s Swimming & Diving Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. Since the return of men’s swimming & diving as a conference sport in 2008-09, he has guided the Lions to a perfect 8-0 record in conference dual-meet competition while claming two NJAC conference crowns. In 2009-10, Bishop also led TCNJ to its fourth consecutive Metropolitan Conference Championship.