Season Recap Interview with Brad Thornton

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (April 2, 2013) – Freshman Elizabeth Heinbach (Cincinnati, Ohio) of the Stevens Institute of Technology women's swimming team was named the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year and Head Swimming Coach Brad Thornton (New York, N.Y.) was named the conference's Coach of the Year, it was announced Friday.
 
The pair helped Stevens to a seventh-place finish at the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) Swimming and Diving Championships in late-March and also guided the program to its first-ever Empire 8 title in February.
 
Heinbach was one of just two freshmen in the entire conference to earn a trip to the national meet, competing in three individual events. She earned honorable mention All-America honors with a 14th place finish in the 400-yard individual medley, and did the same with a 15th in the 1,650-yard freestyle, clocking a conference-record time of 17:11.13. The Ohio native also was 24th in the 500-yard freestyle.
 
At the conference meet, the rookie won E8 titles in the 500 and 1,650 as well as a third place in the 400-IM.
 
Thornton helped Stevens to an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference crown, the Empire 8 title and a seventh-place finish nationally. It marked the third-straight year Stevens placed in the top-10 and the fifth-straight year the Ducks cracked the top-20 at NCAA's.
 
A first-year head coach, Thornton spent the previous four seasons as an assistant with the program. In 2013, the Ducks turned in eight top-eight swims which netted a total of 17 All-America honors. Stevens also had five honorable mention All-America (places nine through 16) swims that tallied 10 honorable mention All-America accolades. Stevens finished one spot ahead of MIT and 10 spots up on in-state rival TCNJ in 17th. Empire 8 rival Nazareth was the closest conference school to Stevens taking 25th, while Hartwick was 39th and Ithaca was 41st. A total of 54 institutions earned points at the meet.