Petersen Repeats as Big 12 Diver of the Year, Marschner Named Diving Coach of the Year

Photo by: Evan Sosnowski/Utah Athletics

Petersen Repeats as Big 12 Diver of the Year, Marschner Named Diving Coach of the Year

4/8/2026 1:30 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

15 Utes earn all-conference honors

IRVING, Texas – Senior Elias Petersen has been named the Big 12 Conference Men's Diver of the Year while head diving coach Richard Marschner was voted the conference's Men's Diving Co-Coach of the Year. Both men earned yearly honors from the Big 12 a season ago.

Petersen is the lone student-athlete in Utah Swimming & Diving program history to earn a Big 12 yearly award.

The Malmo, Sweden, native earned a pair of all-America honors this season, repeating as a First Team All-American on the 1-meter springboard and a Second Team All-American on 3-meter. Petersen recorded the most points by a Utah diver at a single NCAA Championships with 12, finishing seventh overall on the 1-meter and 12th on 3-meter. The senior won gold on 1-meter, silver on 3-meter and placed sixth on platform at the Big 12 Championships in North Carolina on top of leading the Utah men to a team event gold medal for the first time in program history.

Petersen capped his senior season with 10 total gold medals and leaves as the school record holder on the 1-meter board.

Marschner was named the Big 12 Men's Diver Co-Coach of the Year alongside Arizona's Dwight Dumais. Marschner led the Utah men's diving program to new heights, as his divers won gold in the team event and 1-meter at the conference championship and went on to place in the top 10 on all three events at NCAA Zone Championships. He then helped Petersen score the most points ever by a Utah Ute at the NCAA Championships.

Marschner also led the women of Utah to the most diving points by any Big 12 squad at the conference championships behind six championship final qualifiers, coached Callie Eaglestone to an NCAA Zone E Championship – the first ever by a Utah woman – on 1-meter, and guided a pair of NCAA Championship qualifiers.

Along with yearly awards, the conference announced the selections for the First Team and Second Team All-Big 12 squads. The top four finishers in each event at the Big 12 Championship earned all-conference first team honors, while individuals who placed fifth through eighth earned second-team recognition.

Utah had 15 student-athletes earn first or second team honors, as listed below:

Men's All-Big 12 First Team

Nick Chirafisi | 500 Free, 1650 Free
Jones Lambert | 500 Free
Strahinja Maslo | 400 IM
Elias Petersen |1-meter, 3-meter
Evan VanBrocklin | 200 IM, 200 Fly

Men's All-Big 12 Second Team

Nolan Arnholt | 500 Free
Nick Chirafisi | 200 Free
Jones Lambert | 1650 Free
Strahinja Maslo | 200 IM
Brandon Miller | 400 IM
Elias Petersen | Platform
Matthew Sexton | 400 IM
Evan VanBrocklin | 100 Fly
Jakub Walter | 200 Fly
Finn Winkler | 200 IM

Women's All-Big 12 First Team

Callie Eaglestone |1-meter, 3-meter
Kathryn Grant | 1-meter
Emilia Nilsson Garip | 1-meter
Erin Palmer | 50 Free

Women's All-Big 12 Second Team

Ella Derby | 400 IM
Callie Eaglestone | Platform
Kathryn Grant | Platform

Big 12 Conference Yearly Award Winners

Men's Swimmer of the Year – Ilya Kharun, Arizona State
Women's Swimmer of the Year – Joleigh Crye, Cincinnati
Men's Diver of the Year – Elias Petersen, Utah
Women's Diver of the Year – Shiyun Lai, Kansas
Men's Freshman of the Year – Luke Hernandez, Arizona
Women's Freshman of the Year – Albane Cachot, Arizona State
Men's Swimming Coach of the Year – Herbie Behm, Arizona State
Women's Swimming Coach of the Year – Ben Loorz, Arizona
Men's Diving Co-Coaches of the Year – Dwight Dumais, Arizona and Richard Marschner, Utah
Women's Diving Co-Coaches of the Year – Robert Gunter, Houston and Allen Feng, Kansas
Men's Scholar Athlete of the Year – Jonny Kulow, Arizona State
Women's Scholar Athlete of the Year – Mia Hensley, Cincinnati

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