2026 MAAC Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Coach of the Year Awards Introduced

EDISON, NJ (Feb. 18, 2026) – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), at present introduced the 2026 Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Coach of the Year winners, as voted on by the league’s head coaches.
 

Fairfield University head coach, Jake Lichter, was voted amongst his friends because the MAAC Swimming Coach of the Year on each the boys’s and girls’s aspect. On Saturday, Lichter guided the Stags to a sweep in each the 2026 MAAC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championship and 2026 MAAC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship, making Fairfield the sixth general program in league historical past to realize the feat. The males’s crew made program historical past, capturing their first ever MAAC Championship crown after scoring 1341.83 factors over the 4 day meet. On the ladies’s aspect, the crew scored a complete of 1325.5 factors, edging runner-up Marist University by simply 10 factors, securing the fifth MAAC Championships in program historical past – the primary in Lichter’s tenure.
 
Sacred Heart University head diving coach, Adam Vance, was chosen because the MAAC Diving Coach of the Year for the second straight season. Vance guided the Pioneers diving crew to 4 medals (two gold, one silver, one bronze), whereas having eight whole divers’ podium on the 2026 Women’s Championships. In addition to the crew success, Vance coached each the 2026 Women’s Most Outstanding Diver winner and the Women’s Diving Rookie of the Meet honoree. Moreover, he turns into the primary back-to-back MAAC Diving Coach of the Year since Kristen Simms of Rider in 2019 and 2020.
 
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 13 establishments strongly sure by the sound ideas of high quality and integrity in lecturers and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its forty fifth yr of competitors through the 2025-26 tutorial yr. Current convention members embrace: Canisius University, Fairfield University, Iona University, Manhattan University, Marist University, Merrimack College, Mount St. Mary’s University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Sacred Heart University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena University.
 
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