SUWANEE, Ga. – Trinity University first-year Luke Fender and Colorado College sophomore Wyatt Wellehan were named the league’s male Swimmer and Diver of the Year, respectively, based on exclusive voting by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. 2025 All-SCAC Team
Fender, a native of Jackson, Miss., won all three of his events at the 2025 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships and earned Swimmer-of-the-Meet honors, becoming just the third first-year in league history to win that award. Fender touched first in the 500 free (4:23.78), the 200 free (1:37.99) and the 1,650 free (15:37.60) – setting new SCAC Championship marks in all three events. He also swam a leg on the winning 800 free (6:40.55 – second fastest in SCAC Championship history) and the 400 free (3:01.63 – third fastest in SCAC Championship history) Tiger relay teams.
Following the SCAC Championships, Fender represented Trinity at the NCAA Championships, highlighted by a pair of All-American honors and a trio of top 25 finishes in his debut at the national meet. Fender earned Honorable Mention All-American honors, finishing 13th in both the 500- and 1650-yard freestyle with respective times of 4:28.96 and 15:45.17. He is just the second swimmer in SCAC history and first since Robert Dimitri of Trinity in 1996 to earn AA accolades in those two events at the same NCAA Championship. Fender wrapped up his first NCAA Championship by finishing 23rd in the 200-yard freestyle (1:39.00).
Fender is just the fourth first-year in league history to earn Swimmer of the Year honors, following former Trinity swimmers Zach Coburn (2001), Jacob Hurrell-Zitelman (2017) and Michael Kohl (2021). He is the 12th-straight Trinity student-athlete to win the award and 17th overall since the league reintroduced swimming as an officially sponsored conference sport in 1998-99.
Wellehan, a native of Winnetka, Ill., claimed gold on the 3-meter board (508.90) and finished runner-up on the 1-meter (455.20), earning SCAC Diver-of-the-Meet honors in the process for the first time in his career. His winning score of 508.90 in the 3-meter competition is the 10th best mark in SCAC Championship history. The victory on the high board represented his second career win at the conference meet (he won the 1-meter board in 2024) and marked just the second diver in CC history to claim conference gold in the 3-meter (Austin Howlett – 2012, 2013 & 2015).
Wellehan was also the top SCAC finisher at the NCAA Diving III Regionals on the 3-meter board and the second-best finisher in the league on the 1-meter board. He finished eighth on the 3-meter with a score of 475.80 and 13th on the 1-meter with a mark of 399.60.
Wellehan is the second Colorado College diver to earn SCAC Diver of the Year honors, joining Austin Howlett who secured the award four straight times from 2012-2015.
Additionally, in an announcement that was made at the close of the conference championship meet, the Colorado College staff - led by first-year head coach Jen Buffin, along with assistant coach Max McHugh, assistant coach Adric Arndt, assistant coach Misty Banta and diving coach Ellen Walker - earned SCAC Men's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors. Although the award is the first for Buffin as head coach, it is the fifth time CC has received COTY recognition on the men's side.
