STANDISH, ME - The Saint Joseph's College women's swim team was honored with the prestigious Steve Cooke Team Sportsmanship Award following an impressive performance in the New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association Championships last weekend.

The honor, selected by a vote of the participating institutions, is annually bestowed upon the program that best exhibits the tenets of sportsmanship throughout the three-day regional event. Named for long-time Norwich University Head Coach Steve Looke, the SJC women finished as the runner-up in the voting the past three seasons.

"This is great honor for us," says fourth-year Head Coach Rick Horr. "We strive to embody sportsmanship in all aspects of our sport - in the water, on the deck, everywhere we are. These are standards we set four years ago when I got here and there is an expectation we will handle ourselves a certain way."

"We embrace the team philosophy and are proud to be Monks and of our accomplishments, but we will always make sure those we compete against are given the respect they deserve. We appreciate hard work, good competition at all levels and will always give 100%."

"As a team, we are very aware of how we are perceived in all public settings," adds Coach Horr. "This is such an honor that the other coaches in the NEISDA see and appreciate our approach to the sport. Although this was a women's award, our men were a huge part in us earning this recognition. Being a small squad, I believe it's important we all have the same approach. This may be a "Women's Team" award, but I look at it as an honor for the entire SJC Swim Program."

Past recipients of the Steve Looke Team Sportsmanship Award include Saint Michael's College, Plymouth State University and Simmons College.

Saint Joseph's placed 16th with 174 total points in the 2012 NEISDA Championship as five different SJC swimmers combined to appear in 11 finals events over the course of the weekend. The team's points, finish and finals trips all count as program-bests.