Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

MPSF Swim & Dive Annual Awards Announced

4/2/2025 4:00:57 PM

Photo: MPSF Women's Diver of the Year, Vivian Vallely (by: Pepperdine Athletics)

2025 All-MPSF Women's Swimming & Diving (PDF)

2025 All-MPSF Men's Swimming & Diving (PDF)
   
Pacific senior Mitchell Hopper (Happy Valley, OR) scored 27 individual points toward the Tigers’ first-ever MPSF Championship, tied for the most in the conference meet. In addition to first-place MPSF season-best swims in the 200 IM, 100 free, and 200 free, Hopper swam for three winning relays---200 medley, 800 free, and 400 medley—giving him six first team All-MPSF honors. His 200 IM swim of 1:46.49 was a personal-best and a new Pacific record, while his 100 free was also a personal-best of 43.39, the second-fastest time in Pacific history. Backed by the three winning MPSF relays, he helped the Tigers automatically qualify for the National Invitational Championship, where he helped the team move up three places from last year to ninth. Hopper was named MPSF Athlete of the Week twice this season. Hopper represents Pacific’s first-ever MPSF Swimmer of the Year.
University of the Incarnate Word freshman Roldan Salas (San Antonio, TX) was the 2025 MPSF Champion on both the one and three-meter diving events. He was one of only two first-year male athletes (swimmers and divers combined) to earn multiple first team All-MPSF honors, earning 18 points for UIW in the conference championship meet. Salas had season-best scores of 271.80 on the one-meter and 319.20 on the three-meter, coming within one point of qualifying for NCAA zones. Salas is the first MPSF Men’s Diver of the Year from Incarnate Word, and the second Cardinal to earn an annual award recipient (Belal Zahran, freshman of the year-2024).
   
Pacific freshman Javier Lopez Guillen (Inca, Spain) scored 24 points toward the Tigers’ first-ever MPSF Championship, the most for any first-year male competitor. Lopez Guillen helped the Tigers win each relay he swam at MPSF’s--the 200 medley, 800 free, and 400 medley–which all qualified for the National Invitational Championship. Lopez Guillen recorded a podium finish in all three of his individual MPSF Championship events, taking the title in the 100 and 200 fly, and placing third in the 500 free to earn six first team all-conference awards. He helped the Tigers place ninth at NIC’s, scoring in the top-10 in all three of his individual events. At the mid-season event, Lopez Guillen swam his personal-best time in the 200 Fly of 1:43.62, a new Pacific record by nearly two seconds. He also holds the second-fastest time in Pacific history in the 100 fly with a 46.85. He was named MPSF Athlete of the week on October 1 for posting four victories in his collegiate debut. Lopez Guillen is the second all-time MPSF Freshman of the Year recipient from Pacific (Yahav Shahaff-2016).
   
Pacific Head Coach Katelyne Herrington guided the Tigers to their first-ever MPSF Team Championship in 2025. Pacific won a conference-high 11 MPSF Men’s Swim titles, and placed in the top-three in all but one of the swim events. Individually, MPSF Championships by the Tigers came from Mitchell Hopper in the 200 IM, 200 free, and 100 free, Javier Lopez Guillen in the 100 fly and 200 fly, Aidan Scott in the 200 back, Leland Baltazar in the 100 back, and Mattia Giurgevich in the 100 breast. The Pacific men proceeded to compete at the National Invitational Championship, where they placed ninth as a team, a three-spot improvement from last year. The Tigers’ 200 medley, 800 free, and 400 medley relay teams all automatically qualified for NIC’s, backed by their victories at MPSF’s. Herrington represents Pacific’s first-ever MPSF Swim & Dive Coach of the Year recognition.
 
University of the Incarnate Word second-year diving coach James Zagaria coached MPSF Diver of the Year Roldan Salas to a pair of conference titles on both the one and three-meter diving events. Salas was one of only two first-year male athletes (swimmers and divers combined) to earn multiple first team All-MPSF honors. Prior to UIW, Zagaria was the head age group diving coach at Longhorn Aquatics at the University of Texas for nearly 10 Years. Zagaria represents UIW’s first-ever MPSF Swimming & Diving Coach of the Year recognition.