NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. - The Bridgeport Purple Knights made headlines this winter, becoming just the third men's team in Northeast 10 history to win the conference championship. Bridgeport then continued into the NCAA postseason, earning multiple All-American honors before cleaning up the men's conference awards, announced by the NE10 Wednesday.
All conference honors were nominated and voted on by the league's eight head coaches.
Freshman breaststroker Jurica Dragun earns NE10 Swimmer of the Year after being named an All-American in the 100 in Evansville, Ind. earlier this month. Dragun raced in 53.14 seconds to earn All-America first team status. He was also a second team All-American in the 200 Breast. Dragun makes Bridgeport the fifth NE10 school to win a Swimmer of the Year award, joining Adelphi, Le Moyne, Saint Rose and Southern Connecticut.
Bridgeport's Christian Toussi earns Freshman of the Year, snapping a run for Adelphi of winning the award three times in four seasons. Bridgeport becomes the seventh school to claim top rookie. Toussi, like Dragun, was named an All-American, swimming the 100 Back in 47.57 seconds. He finished 11th in Evansville.
Yubal Parra, a first team All-American last season, was named NE10 Diver of the Year. The CSI junior was also selected for the NCAA Championship this season after winning the league titles off both the 1M and 3M boards. Parra is the third consecutive repeat winner of Diver of the Year after Pace's Sean Rorke and Southern Connecticut's Andrew Buehler.
On the women's side, SCSU's Molly Kennedy earns her first Swimmer of the Year title, following her teammate Justice Glasgow the last two seasons. Kennedy is the 10th SCSU woman to win Swimmer of the Year over the 21 seasons the trophy has been awarded. Kennedy set the NE10 Championship record in the 100 Free twice at the conference meet and then swam the 50 Free, 100 Free and 200 Free at the NCAA Championships.
Felician freshman Nicolette Wight becomes the second straight backstroker to claim NE10 Rookie of the Year. The Australian unseated last year's Rookie of the Year, Gigi Morossi, as the NE10 100 Back champion in February before going on to swim the event at the NCAA Championship. Felician is the sixth NE10 program to win Rookie of the Year on the women's side.
In women's diving, Pace's Caroline Ranno becomes the first Setter to win NE10 Diver of the Year since Alexis Heiney in 2019. She becomes the third Setter overall to win top diver with Heiney and Sophia Howard. Ranno is just a sophomore -- worth noting, as the last three NE10 Divers of the Year all went on to repeat the honor. Seven of the prior nine winners won multiple times.
The NE10 Coaches of the Year are SCSU's Tim Quill on the women's side and Adelphi's Marc Danin for the men. Danin wins for the third straight season after leading AU to a repeat as conference runner-up, the best finish in program history.
Quill wins his 16th NE10 Coach of the Year on the women's side -- his 30th total. The legendary Southern Connecticut coach passed away unexpetedly one day before the 2026 NE10 Championship, leaving behind an incredible legacy of champions in and out of the pool. Quill coached 28 years in New Haven, winning 17 men's and 17 women's conference crowns. Longtime assistant CJ Moran helped coach the Owls women to their sixth consecutive league title in February, with the team competing under the banner of #SwimForTim.
Men's Swimmer of the Year: Jurcia Dargun, Bridgeport
Women's Swimmer of the Year: Molly, Kennedy, SCSU
Men's Diver of the Year: Yubal Parra, CSI
Women's Diver of the Year: Caroline Ranno, Pace
Men's Rookie of the Year: Christian Toussi, Bridgeport
Women's Rookie of the Year: Nicolette Wight, Felician
Men's Coach of the Year: Marc Danin, Adelphi
Women's Coach of the Year: Tim Quill, SCSU
ABOUT THE NE10
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