CARMEL, Ind. - The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) announced its inaugural winners of the Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Athletes of the Year on Friday (Mar. 25) with Franklin College juniors Gauge Creech and Caileigh McCafferty going down in the record books as the first ever recipients. 

This is the first time the HCAC has recognized a male and female swimming and diving athlete of the year, after the HCAC swimming and diving coaches and administrators voted to create the award. The honor looks at a swimmer or diver's entire body of work over the course of a season, including any post-season appearances.

Creech earned the award after putting together an outstanding junior campaign on the diving boards. The Franklin-native punched his ticket to the NCAA Diving Regional in the Grizzlies' first event of the year and was the only swimmer or diver from the HCAC to qualify for the NCAA Championships, doing so for the second time in his career after finishing third on both boards at the largest diving regional in the country. 

He finished the year with an undefeated regular season campaign and won both diving events at the HCAC Championships to claim the HCAC's Most Valuable Diver award. He would break both league and program records throughout the year and would earn All-American and Scholastic All-American honors after finishing in the top-16 at the NCAA Championships. 

Wonder Lake, Ill.-McCafferty was a force in the pool for the Franklin women all year long, winning 16 of her 19 individual races throughout the regular season and competing in several relay races for the Grizzlies. At the HCAC Championships, McCafferty claimed two gold medals and one silver medal in individual competition and swam on four winning relay teams as Franklin laid claim to its fifth straight HCAC Championships. At the end of the year, she ranked in the top-two in five different events and in the top-six in two others.