Gardner-Webb University
CCSA Championships
Simpson Named Men's Coach Of The Year and Lile Named Most Outstanding Male Swimmer And Scholar-Athlete Of The Year
February 21, 2015 | Swimming
This is the first time head coach Mike Simpson was named Men's Coach of the Year, and is the fifth time in his career, that Simpson has earned the coach of the year honors.
UMBC remained in first place all four days to take home the title on the men's side, and Florida Gulf Coast reined supreme, capturing the team title in the women's competition.
"What a fabulous week," said Simpson. "When we went back to put statistics in for the meet, we discovered that of the 36 possible scorers, every single individual made at least one final and scored in the meet. That has never happened before at conference. The number of lifetime- best times, the all-conference group, the number of NCAA cuts and school records was our best. Also, I believe we had the highest number of academic all-conference in the league."
"The men winning two relays was tremendous," Simpson added. "Our mens team stacked up with every other team for the first time since we started the program. Nathan [Lile] was the man. That's why he won Most Outstanding Male Swimmer. Lots of firsts – First male under 20 seconds in the 50 free. First male with B cuts. First to win multiple events, and Scholar Athlete of the Year."
"On the women's side, we would have been third without diving and moved up two spots from last year. Everyone swam great," said Simpson. "Lots of top-3 podium swims and school records. I am very proud of them."
John Baker had a great swim for the Dogs in the 200 back, finishing in fourth place, and nearly earned All-Conference honors in the event, only to be touched out by Miles Ruttan (UMBC) who finished just 0.03 seconds ahead of Baker.
Gardner-Webb put an exclamation point on what was an incredible 2015 CCSA Championship meet, garnering 18 All-Conference selections and achieving eight NCAA "B" cuts during the four-day meet. The Runnin' Bulldogs also ended the championships smashing 18 school records.
"It was an incredible week. One to savor. One to build on. Without a doubt, it was the best overall conference meet in 16 years of Gardner-Webb swimming," Simpson exclaimed.
