RICHMOND, VA. - Seniors Ashley Danner and Derrick Butts have been
awarded for their outstanding seasons by the CAA with the honors of 2012 CAA
Women's Swimmer of the Year and 2012 CAA Men's Diver of the Year,
respectively. Dennis Ceppa, Mason's
diving coach this season, was also award 2012 CAA Men's Diving Coach of the
Year.
Danner was selected as the CAA Swimmer of the Year for the second
time in the past three seasons. The senior received All-America honors in two
events after placing second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.02 and
fifth in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:08.49 at the NCAA Swimming
Championship. She also posted a 32nd-place finish in the 200
individual medley at the NCAA's (1:59.40). Danner was a six-time All-American
in her career. She was named the Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet at the CAA
Championship for the third time in 2012 after winning three events. She set a
new CAA meet record while claiming her fourth straight 200 IM (1:58.24) and
also captured her fourth consecutive 100 breast (59.82) and 200 breast
(2:09.17) titles. Danner owns the top CAA all-time performances in the 100
breast and 200 breast.
Butts received CAA Diver of the Year honors for the first time
after one of the best seasons in Mason history. The senior was named the Diver
of the Meet at the 2012 CAA Championship after sweeping both boards. In the
1-meter competition, Butts set a meet record (360.85) in the preliminaries
before capturing the league title with a score of 351.15. He also won the 3-meter
competition with a score of 379.50. He was also named Men's CAA Diver of the
Week eight times this season. Butts went
on to claim the NCAA Zone A Championship on the 1-meter board and placed sixth
on the 3-meter board and seventh on the platform. That effort allowed him to
become the first Mason diver to qualify for the NCAA Championship, placing 23rd
in the 3-meter dive with a score of 337.10 and 29th in the 1-meter
dive with a score of 258.35.
Congratulations to both of these outstanding seniors and to Coach Ceppa
for their outstanding performances this season.
