UF Swimmers and Divers Earn Post-SEC Awards; Gators Earn 21 All-SEC Selections, 51 Overall Honors
Thursday, February 25, 2010 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Three SEC Swimmer and Diver of the Year honors and two SEC Coach of the Year accolades highlighted the University of Florida swimming and diving program's 2010 SEC Championship campaign, which ran Feb. 17-20 in Athens, Ga., on the UGA campus. Two deserving student-athletes were additionally named to the SEC Community Service Team.
Voted on by the league's head coaches, swimming coach Gregg Troy was named the SEC Men's Swimming Coach of the Year and diving coach Donnie Craine was named the SEC Women's Diving Coach of the Year. Florida swept the 2010 Swimmer of the Year awards as senior Gemma Spofforth (West Sussex, England) won her second consecutive SEC Women's Swimmer of the Year honor after turning in three individual SEC Championship Title swims. Accompanying Spofforth, junior men's swimmer Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill.) was named the 2010 SEC Men's Swimmer of the Year after turning in first-place victories in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle races. Both Spofforth and Dwyer were additionally honored with the Commissioner's Trophy for the high-point award, alongside senior Shaune Fraser (George Town, Grand Cayman) and Auburn's Kelly Marx on the men's side for contributing the most points to their respective team's score throughout the four-day meet.
Spofforth's second Swimmer of the Year award makes her the first Florida athlete to earn this honor since Allison Wagner in 1995-96. Spofforth won her third consecutive SEC titles in both the 200 back and 100 back, making her the only swimmer in the SEC to accomplish such a feat.
For their efforts in leading both UF teams to second-place finishes at the 2010 SEC Meet, Spofforth and Dwyer were both named the Counsilman Hunsaker National Collegiate Swimmers of the Week for the week of Feb. 22-26.
Under Craine's tutelage, UF senior diver Kara Salamone (Cooper City, Fla.) became Florida's most decorated diver as she won the one-meter and the platform titles. Salamone was UF's first athlete to be named Female Diver of the Year since 1986, was also the first Florida diver to win both boards in the same meet and became the first Gator to ever bring home a conference title on the platform.
Troy was named the 2010 SEC Men's Swimming Coach of the Year for the fourth time during his tenure at UF after also winning in 2000, 2002 and 2007, while Craine was named the 2010 SEC Diving Coach of the Year for the sixth time in his stint at UF after being awarded the honor in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1998.
Among all of her athletic accolades, Spofforth was additionally named to the 2010 SEC Community Service Team, while Florida junior men's diver Grayson Patten (West Palm Beach, Fla.) was named to the men's community service team. Patten recorded the most community service hours on the men's swimming and diving team this season, spending four hours at UF's Climb for Cancer event where UF kids interact with children with cancer, while also participating in the 2009 March of Dimes. Patten distributed shoes to children in the Gainesville area as part of UF's Goodwill Gators Gator Tracks program and additionally logged five hours as a volunteer at the district diving meet and was a volunteer at the regional diving meet.
Spofforth works at the Alachua County Crisis Center where she takes phone calls and counsels people in need. She is on the SAAC and spearheaded the Inaugural Golden Gators Awards, helps UF's Goodwill Gators where she delivered sneakers to local area kids in need and she also participated in UF's Climb for Cancer Sports Camp which allows children with cancer the chance to interact with UF student-athletes. Spofforth was additionally the 2010 recipient of UF's Ben Hill Griffin Award, alongside quarterback Tim Tebow, which recognizes athletic and community service/extra curricular efforts.
Following such a stellar performance at the conference meet, the Gators racked up 21 All-SEC selections, highlighted by seven first team and three second team All-SEC selections for the women, and five first team and two second team All-SEC accolades for the Florida men. Additionally, four freshman Gators were named to the SEC All-Freshman Team for being the highest freshman finisher in their respective events. Freshman Sebastien Rousseau (Cape Town, South Africa) and redshirt freshman Marco Loughran (London, England) made an outstanding mark, sweeping honors in six events, three each, as Rousseau was the highest freshman in the 200 and 400 IM races, as well as the 200-yard fly. Loughran was the highest first-year finisher in the 100 and 200-yard back events, as well as the 100 fly. In addition to being on the Freshman All-SEC list, both Rousseau and Loughran were named to the first-team.
UF's seven first team women's honorees brought in 20 honors, while the men's five swimmers additionally claimed 20 accolades. On the second team, Florida's women accumulated three honors, while the second team men's Gators accrued accolades in six races.
First and second team All-SEC selections were awarded based on first and second-place finishes at the conference meet in either individual or relay events.
Women's First Team All SEC
(seven Gators, 20 honors)
Yi-Ting Siow, Arkansas
Vennie Dantin, Auburn
Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Auburn
Micah Lawrence, Auburn
Melissa Marik, Auburn
Ava Ohlgren, Auburn
Kara Salamone, Florida (1st: one meter, platform)
Gemma Spofforth, Florida (1st: 200 IM, 200 free relay, 100 back, 200 back; 2nd: 400 free relay)
Shara Stafford, Florida (1st: 200 free relay; 2nd: 800 free relay, 100 free, 400 free relay)
Sarah Bateman, Florida (1st: 200 free relay; 2nd: 400 free relay)
Stephanie Napier, Florida (1st: 200 free relay)
Teresa Crippen, Florida (1st: 400 IM; 2nd: 800 free relay, 200 back, 200 fly)
Jemma Lowe, Florida (1st: 200 fly; 2nd: 100 fly)
Morgan Scroggy, Georgia
Chelsea Nauta, Georgia
Kelly McNichols, Georgia
Allison Schmitt, Georgia
Wendy Trott, Georgia
Megan Romano, Georgia
Jenny Connolly, Tennesee
Alex Barsanti, Tennessee
Kelsey Floyd, Tennessee
Michele King, Tennessee
Women's Second Team All-SEC
(three Gators, three honors)
Anna Aguero, Auburn
Caitlin Geary, Auburn
Hannah Riordan, Auburn
Jamie Bohunicky, Florida (2nd: 800 free relay)
Melania Costa-Schmidt, Florida (2nd: 800 free relay)
Elizabeth Kemp, Florida (2nd: 400 free relay)
Hannah Moore, Georgia
Kristen Shickora, Georgia
Lisa Caprioglio, Georgia
Anne Marie-Botek, Georgia
Jana Mangimelli, Georgia
Michelle McKeehan, Georgia
Women's SEC All-Freshman Team
(two Gators, two honors)
1-Meter- Elle Schmidt, LSU (17th)
3-Meter- Rebecca St. Germain, LSU (9th)
Platform- Rebecca St. Germain, LSU (12th)
500 free- Katie Gardocki, AU (4th)
200 IM- Jana Mangimelli, UG (5th)
50 free- Hannah Riordan, AU (7th)
400 IM- Jana Mangimelli, UG (5th)
100 fly- Kelsey Floyd, UT (9th)
200 free- Jamie Bohunicky, UF (5th)
100 breast- Breanna Folk, UT (3rd)
100 back- Megan Romano, UG (3rd)
1,650 free- Corinne Showalter, UF (5th)
200 back- Jana Mangimelli, UG (3rd)
100 free- Megan Romano, UG (5th)
200 breast- Lauren Norberg, AU (18th)
200 fly- Adrienne Bicek, UG (4th)
Men's First Team All-SEC
(five Gators, 20 honors)
Aaron Fleshner, Alabama
Jared White, Auburn
Michael Silva, Auburn
Jordan Anderson, Auburn
Gideon Louw, Auburn
Kelly Marx, Auburn
Adam Brown, Auburn
Karl Krug, Auburn
Christopher Fox, Auburn
George Klein, Auburn
Pascal Wollach, Auburn
Tyler McGill, Auburn
Kohlton Norys, Auburn
Shaune Fraser, Florida (1st: 800 free relay, 200 IM, 100 fly; 2nd: 200 medley relay, 200 fly, 400 free relay)
Brett Fraser, Florida (1st: 800 free relay; 2nd: 400 medley relay, 400 free relay)
Sebastien Rousseau, Florida (1st: 800 free relay; 2nd: 400 medley relay)
Conor Dwyer, Florida (1st: 800 free relay, 500 free, 200 free; 2nd: 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay, 100 free, 400 free relay)
Marco Loughran, Florida (1st: 200 back; 2nd: 100 back)
Bill Cregar, Georgia
Martin Grodzki, Georgia
Mark Dylla, Georgia
Brad Craig, Tennessee
Men's Second Team All-SEC
(two Gators, six honors)
Adam Booher, Alabama
Mark Randall, Alabama
Omar Pinzon, Florida (2nd, 200 medley relay, 200 IM, 400 medley relay, 200 back)
Roberto Gomez, Florida (2nd, 200 medley relay, 400 free relay)
Matt Bartlett, Georgia
Peter Benner, Georgia
Andrew Gemmell, Georgia
Eric McGinnis, Kentucky
Alex Forbes, Kentucky
Elvis Burrows, Kentucky
Kyle Greene, Kentucky
Men's SEC All-Freshman Team
(two Gators, six honors)
1-Meter- Thad Ellis, AU (5th)
3-Meter- Thad Ellis, AU (8th)
Platform- Thad Ellis, AU (4th)
500 free- Michael Flach, SC (3rd)
200 IM- Sebastien Rousseau, UF (4th)
50 free- Andrei Tuomola, LSU (t10th)
400 IM- Sebastien Rousseau, UF (3rd)
100 fly- Marco Loughran, UF (6th)
200 free- Ryan Harrison, UT (5th)
100 breast- Stuart Ferguson, AU (4th)
100 back- Marco Loughran, UF (2nd)
1,650 free- Martin Grodzki, UG (1st)
200 back- Marco Loughran, UF (1st)
100 free- Andrei Tuomola, LSU (10th)
200 breast- Tom Beeri, UG (3rd)
200 fly- Sebastien Rousseau, UF (4th)
2010 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Awards
2010 SEC Male Swimmer of the Year
Conor Dwyer, Florida
2010 SEC Male Freshman Swimmer of the Year
Martin Grodzki, Georgia
2010 SEC Men's Swimming Coach of the Year
Gregg Troy, Florida
2010 SEC Male Diver of the Year
Kelly Marx, Auburn
2010 SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year
Thad Ellis, Auburn
2010 SEC Men's Diving Coach of the Year
Jeff Shaffer, Auburn
2010 SEC Male Co-Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Jordan Anderson, Auburn; Geoff Sanders, Tennessee
2010 Female Swimmer of the Year
Gemma Spofforth, Florida
2010 Female Freshman Swimmer of the Year
Jana Mangimelli, Georgia
2010 SEC Women's Swimming Coach of the Year
Jack Bauerle, Georgia
2010 SEC Female Diver of the Year
Kara Salamone, Florida
2010 SEC Female Freshman Diver of the Year
Becca St. Germain, LSU
2010 SEC Women's Diving Coach of the Year
Donnie Craine, Florida
2010 SEC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Lisa Caprioglio, Georgia
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