Llop, Reina win Big 12 weekly awards

BYU’s Martí Llop and Mattia Reina each won their first Big 12 weekly awards, the conference announced Thursday.

Author Carter Bentley
Llop, Reina win Big 12 weekly awardsLlop, Reina win Big 12 weekly awards
Abby Shelton/BYU Photo

IRVING, Texas – The Big 12 awarded sophomore Martí Llop and freshman Mattia Reina weekly accolades on Thursday.

Llop was named the Big 12 Men’s Diver of the Week, and Reina was named the Big 12 Men’s Newcomer of the Week.

The honors come following the two’s performances last weekend in Colorado at the Intermountain Shootout. Both contributed to the BYU men’s team’s first-place finish against Colorado Mesa and Adams State.

Llop and Reina both hail from outside the U.S., highlighting the international talent present on BYU’s swim and dive teams.

B12 Weekly Award-Marti Llop Diver

Llop, a Barcelona, Spain, native, scored a 306.90 in the 1-meter event on day one of the meet, earning him a third-place finish. On the second day of the shootout, Llop scored a 467.80 in the 3-meter discipline. Despite entering as the sixth seed in the competition, Llop’s performance earned him a first-place victory and points toward the BYU men’s overall score.

Llop enters his second year with the Cougars following last season, when he was named to the All-Big 12’s second team in the 3-meter event. He also qualified for last year's NCAA Zone E Championship, where he competed in the 3-meter and platform events.

B12 Weekly Award-Mattia Reina Newcomer

Reina, of Milan, Italy, made his debut with the Cougars with top performances in fly events. The freshman took second place in the 100 fly with a time of 47.58 and finished the 200 fly at 1:47.12, earning him a first-place victory and the ninth-fastest 200 fly time in BYU history.

Reina also competed in two free events, where he took seventh in the 200 and fourth in the 500.

Llop and Reina, alongside their teammates, will travel to Las Vegas, Nev., where they will compete against the UNLV Rebels on Nov. 7 in their next official meet.