Texas swimmers clean up at second-annual Golden Goggle Awards

NEW YORK, N.Y. - It was a big night for Texas swimmers at Monday's Golden Goggle Awards in New York City, as four of the eight awards went to athletes with ties to the University of Texas.

The Golden Goggle Awards, USA Swimming's annual year-end gala, recognized the outstanding swimming accomplishments of 2005.

Olympic triple gold medalist Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif./Longhorn) was named Male Athlete of the Year, complementing his USA Swimming Athlete of the Year honor at the annual U.S. Aquatic Sports Convention in September. Peirsol had an outstanding post-Olympic year, winning three World Championship gold medals and setting two world records throughout the year, in the 100m backstroke in April and the 200m back in July.

"This is very very humbling. I don't know if you guys can understand. I mean, there's a guy who nearly broke 50 seconds in the 100 butterfly this year. That doesn't happy very often even in freestyle. He's actually faster than me in freestyle. And how often does anyone actually win six medals in any World Championships or in any National meet, period?

"So I'm very humbled. Congratulations Brendan. Congratulations Ian. Congratulations Eddie. This is certainly wonderful event. You all deserve this quite a bit, let's keep it up. Rock and roll.

Eddie Reese (Austin, Texas/University of Texas) earned the Coach of the Year Award for the second-straight year. The longtime coach at the University of Texas had seven athletes make the World Championships team, accounting for five individual golds and one individual silver.

"Thank you very much for this award. But even more than that, I want to thank the sponsors of this ceremony tonight and the purpose of this ceremony, to honor the swimmers and those who have helped the swimmers. This is a great thing that is occurring, and we need to keep it going.

"I would like to thank my wife, who is my best friend and who has taught me the greatest lesson in life…and that's just that we're here to help people. I've got a great assistant coach named Kris Kubik who keeps me from killing myself on deck. And then I've got a great group of swimmers who trust me, the greatest honor I can receive. Thank y'all very much."

Olympic medalist Ian Crocker (Portland, Maine/Longhorn) won the Male Performance of the Year for his gold-medal winning 100m butterfly at the World Championships. Crocker lowered his own world record by almost four-tenths and defeated the field by a wide margin of 1.25 seconds.

"They say the perfect guitars are made so loosely that they can just vibrate enough to get the perfect sound out. I feel like that's me before I race. I'm shaking so much that there's just enough to keep me together.

"The things that hold me together are Eddie Reese, my support group at the University of Texas - Brendan (Hansen) and Aaron (Peirsol), Neil Walker and Nate Dusing. And of course Garrett Weber-Gale. Of course, my parents and my family, so thank you very much to all of them."

Olympic medalist Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Penn./Longhorn) won the Perseverance Award, given to the athlete who came back from adversity to have outstanding performances in 2005. Hansen, who won individual silver and bronze medals at the 2004 Olympics, won two individual gold medals in the 100m and 200m breaststroke at the 2005 World Championships, beating rival Kosuke Kitajima of Japan in the 100.

Olympian Katie Hoff (Towson, Md./North Baltimore) was the bigger winner, taking home two awards in the Female Athlete of the Year category and Relay Performance of the Year. The 16-year-old was a triple gold medalist at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal, capturing medals in the 200m and 400m individual medley and as a member of the 800m freestyle relay.

Hoff was one of a trio of up-and-coming female stars to win awards, as 18-year-old Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif./Irvine Novaquatics) and 17-year-old Kate Ziegler (Great Falls, Va./The Fish) also garnered awards for their performances at the 2005 World Championships. Hardy was recognized in the Breakout Performer of the Year category, while Ziegler won Female Performance of the Year for her gold-medal winning 1500m freestyle swim in July.

The women's 800m free relay repeated as the Relay Performance of the Year, this time with a fairly different cast of characters: Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif./Cal Aquatics), Hoff, Whitney Myers (Oxford, Ohio/Arizona) and Kaitlin Sandeno (Lake Forest, Calif./Trojan). Both Coughlin and Sandeno were on the relay that won the award in 2004, while Hoff and Myers were competing in their first World Championships.

Approximately 625 guests attended the gala at the Hammerstein Ballroom. The Broadway-themed event was sold out for the second consecutive year. A portion of the proceeds from the 2005 Golden Goggles will go to help families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

B-roll footage from the evening is available by contacting Sara Hunninghake. Photos of athletes and celebrities on the red carpet are also available on the Getty Images website at www.gettyimages.com, keyword "Golden Goggle Awards".

The list of 2005 award winners includes:

Male Athlete of the Year:
Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif./Longhorn)

Female Athlete of the Year:
Katie Hoff (Towson, Md./North Baltimore)

Coach of the Year:
Eddie Reese (Austin, Texas/Texas)

Breakout Performer of the Year:
Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif./Irvine Novaquatics)

Perseverance Award:
Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa./Longhorn)

Male Performance of the Year:
100m Butterfly (Ian Crocker, Portland, Maine/Longhorn)

Female Performance of the Year: (all from 2005 World Championships)
1500m Freestyle (Kate Ziegler, Great Falls, Va./The Fish)

Relay Performance of the Year: (all from 2005 World Championships)
Women's 4 x 200 Free Relay
Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif./Cal Aquatics)
Katie Hoff (Towson, Md./North Baltimore)
Whitney Myers (Oxford, Ohio/Arizona)
Kaitlin Sandeno (Lake Forest, Calif./Trojan)

Quotes from 2005 Golden Goggle Awards

Perseverance Award:
Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa./Longhorn)

"I want to know who made that video," Hansen said after receiving his award. "I think I can find something better than those highlights…'Is he going to break the world record? Nooooooo!'

"You can't win this award without a really good support staff, and I want to thank all of the guys at the University of Texas, especially Aaron Peirsol, Ian Crocker and Eddie Reese. Thank you all for a good night. Let's hope we'll have a little better highlight reel next year."

Hoff, Texas Quartet are Big Winners at Golden Goggle Awards

Peirsol, Hoff selected top swimmers

Thanks to Sarah, Marin and Andrea for their photos...check them out in the Gallery!