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Entering his fifth season as the diving coach at the University of Wyoming, Ben Herdt has led the UW divers to the top of the Mountain West Conference and into the national spotlight during his first four years at UW. Three times during his career at Wyoming, Herdt has led the UW divers to the most points by a school at the MWC Championship meet. In 2006, the Cowgirls scored the most diving points and at the 2007 and 2008 meet the Cowboys achieved the same feat. The women have scored the second most points in the MWC twice, during the 2007 and 2008 seasons, and the men scored the second most points in 2006. Wyoming has had two individual conference champions in Herdt's tenure at Wyoming. In 2007, Saara Haapanen won the women's one-meter event and, as a true freshman, Kyle Bogner won the men's one-meter crown in 2008. Haapanen's win was the first individual MWC championship by a Cowgirl swimmer or diver. Herdt is a two-time MWC Coach of the Year. He was selected as the top women's coach in the MWC in 2006 and the top men's coach in 2008. The 2007-08 season may have been the UW diving team's most successful despite having just one senior in the entire program. All four Cowboy divers reached the finals of all three diving events while two Cowgirls reached the top-eight in all three events. Six different UW divers earned a total of 16 all-conference accolades. Wyoming's success on the diving boards reaches further than the conference level as a UW diver has qualified for the NCAA Zone "E" Diving Championships 22 times during Herdt's tenure. At the end of the 2006-07 season, Herdt guided an athlete into the NCAA Championships for the first time in his career. Kevin Bretting became that athlete and placed in the top-25 of all three diving events at the national championship meet. Bretting became just the fifth Cowboy diver to ever compete in the NCAA Championships. Herdt has also moved into the world diving coaching scene as Haapanen is a member of the Finland national diving team. Herdt assisted the Finish National Team by coaching Saara up until the Fall of 2007 and helped guide her to an 18th place three-meter finish in the FINA/USA Diving Grand Prix during the summer of 2007. Herdt has coached one Academic All-American as Bretting received the honor following the 2006-07 season. During Herdt's time at Wyoming, both the men's and women's teams have also been recognized as Academic All-America teams by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America numerous times. A native of East Lansing, Mich., Herdt coached the Minnesota Diving Club and the Twin City Diving Club in Minneapolis, Minn., from 2000-04. Herdt had a very successful diving career at the University of Minnesota where he helped lead the Golden Gophers to three Big Ten Conference Championships. Herdt earned Academic All-Big Ten honors and was named a Big Ten Scholar Athlete. He was also a team co-captain his senior year. Herdt graduated from Minnesota in the Spring of 2004 with a degree in Spanish Studies. He married Holly Hanneman on Sept. 17, 2005 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hanneman also dove for the Golden Gophers and was a team captain. |
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