Florida’s Nesty named SEC Male Swimming Coach of Year

Florida’s Anthony Nesty was named SEC Male Swimming Coach of the Year on Wednesday, highlighting the Gators’ SEC awards.

Robert Finke and Kieran Smith both earned the SEC Freshman Swimmer of the Year for their performances at the SEC Championships. Finke was the SEC Champion in the 400 IM and 1,650 Free. Smith was the champion in the 200 IM, was a member of the 800 Free Relay that won the SEC title, and finished second in the 400 IM.

Nesty won an SEC Championship and continued the Florida winning streak to seven straight. During his first season as head coach he tallied four individual SEC Champions and one relay. The Gators also had five swimmers make First-Team All-SEC, six swimmers earned Second-Team All-SEC, and had five freshman claim All-Freshman team honors.

Finke collected First-Team All-SEC honors in the 400 IM and 1,650 Free. Smith picked up a First-Team All-SEC nod in the 200 IM and Maxime Rooney added a first-team accolade in the 100 Fly. The squad of Rooney, Smith, Trey Freeman, and Khader Baqlah claimed first-team honors with their combined effort in the 800 Free Relay. First team consists of the top finisher in each event at the SEC Championships.

Clark Beach, Will Davis, Marco Guarente, Bayley Main, Grant Sanders, and Kacper Stokowski all earned Second-Team All-SEC. Second team consists of the second- and third-place finishers in each event.

Davis, Finke, Freeman, Smith and Stokowski also earned spots on the SEC All-Freshman Team list for their efforts throughout the championships. The All-Freshman Team consists of any redshirt or true freshman who finished either in the top eight or is the highest scoring freshman of each event at the SEC Championships, excluding relay events.

On the women’s side for UF, Leah Braswell collected a First-Team All-SEC honor in the 1,650 Free. Taylor Ault earned a second-team accolade with her second-place finish in the 1,650 Free. Sherridon Dressel claimed her spot on the second-team with her third-place finish in the 100 Back. Vanessa Pearl achieved a second-team nod with her second-place swim in the 400 IM. Brooke Madden earned second-team honors with her third-place finish on 3-meter. Dressel, Pearl, Emma Ball, and Bella Garofalo all earned second-team honors for their third-place swim in the 200 Medley Relay.

Braswell and Pearl both landed on the SEC All-Freshman Team with their performances from the SEC Championships.