LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference released this year’s major award winners for the 2022-23 men’s swimming season, the league office announced Friday afternoon.
The awards are determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches. The top three finishers in each event at the PSAC Championships are recognized as all-conference performers. A complete list of 2022-23 all-conference honors is linked above.
Clarion sophomore David Bocci was voted the PSAC Men’s Swimming Athlete of the Year after an impressive season that saw him earn All-America status in the 200 Butterfly at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships with an eighth-place finish and a new school record. He finished first at the 2023 PSAC Swimming Championships with a meet record in the 200 Fly, also adding a second-place mark in the 200 Backstroke, third place in the 100 Fly, sixth place in the 200 IM, and was part of the first-place 800 Freestyle relay team at that meet. He scored 66 points at the PSAC meet and 11 points individually at the NCAA meet. Bocci has now earned a PSAC Men’s Swimming major award in back-to-back years, as he was voted the PSAC Freshman of the Year in 2021-22. His Athlete of the Year award is Clarion’s 11
th all-time and the first since Ryan Thiel in the 2008-09 season.
West Chester’s Paul Demesy earns the PSAC Men’s Swimming Freshman of the Year award after a season where he became a NCAA All-American, a NCAA Honorable Mention All-American, and a three-time PSAC champion. Demesy finished fourth in the 1650 Free at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships with a 15:16.22, the second-fastest time in conference history. He also won the event at the PSAC Swimming Championships (setting a meet record) and added wins in the 500 Free and 1000 Free. Additionally, he swam the 1000 Free at the NCAA meet, finishing 10
th to collect his Honorable Mention All-America honor. Demesy becomes the ninth-ever Golden Ram to collect PSAC Freshman of the Year honors and the first since Logan Brockway in the 2018-19 season.
Clarion head coach Brehan Kelley captures her first career Men’s Swimming PSAC Coach of the Year honor after leading the Golden Eagles to a third-place finish at the 2023 PSAC Swimming Championships, the best result for the team since 2017--when the team also finished third. Kelley becomes the first female coach to ever earn a PSAC Swimming Coach of the Year award (men's or women's) since its inception in the 1989-90 season. Kelley's 2022-23 Clarion men's team accrued 505 team points at the PSAC Championships, holding off Bloomsburg (483 points) and trailing only Gannon (588.5) and champion West Chester (968.5.). She guided swimmers David Bocci and Connor Cary to incredibly successful seasons that culminated in trips to the Division II NCAA Championships. The PSAC Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year honor is Clarion’s sixth all-time and first since Bill Miller earned the award after the 1997-98 season.
Men's Swimming Athlete of the Year – David Bocci, Clarion
Men's Swimming Freshman of the Year – Paul Demesy, West Chester
Men's Swimming Coach of the Year – Brehan Kelley, Clarion