Sean Rodney Earns SSC Freshman of the Year Honors

MELBOURNE, Fla. - The Sunshine State Conference has announced the 2017 men's swimming individual awards. Anton Lobanov of Nova Southeastern University is named SSC Swimmer of the Year. University of Tampa's Sean Rodney was voted Freshman of the Year. Mike Blum from Florida Southern College and Justin Andrade of Florida Tech have been selected Coaches of the Year.

SSC Swimmer, Freshman and Coach of the Year awards were selected by vote of the league's swimming coaches following the NCAA Division II National Championship. All-SSC Swimmers were selected earlier this season following the Swimming Championships (February 16-19 at the Orlando YMCA Aquatic Center).

2017 SSC Men's Swimming All-Conference Teams

Lobanov becomes the third consecutive men's athlete from Nova Southeastern to be named Swimmer of the Year¹. The junior won his third consecutive titles in the 100 Breast and 200 Breast as the 2017 NCAA Division-II Championship. He also helped pilot NSU to a second place finish in the 400 Medley Relay, third in the 200 Medley Relay, and eighth in the 200 Free Relay. Overall, the Novosibirsk, Russia native holds six NCAA titles and two NCAA Division II records². He is also part of three SSC Championship relay records, two of which were set at the 2017 event.

Rodney earns Freshman of the Year honors after scoring the most individual points among freshman at the 2017 SSC Championship. The Barrington, Illinois product was the sole SSC freshman to score at the NCAA's with an 11th place finish in the 200 Fly. Rodney is the second male athlete to be named Freshman of the Year from UT^3.

Blum repeats as SSC Coach of the Year in his second season following a runner-up finish at the conference championship and a fourth place finish among 32 scoring teams at the national championship. With his Coach of the Year honor, Andrade becomes the first person from Florida Tech to earn an individual award in men's or women's swimming. The second year head coach led the Panthers to a 13th place finish at nationals and the program's first title in a individual event or relay, which came in the 200 Free Relay.

SSC Records / Top Times | Men's Swimmers and Coaches of the Year

¹NSU's Thiago Sickert won Back-to-Back honors in 2015 and 2016.
²100 and 200 Breast
³UT's Brad Hines was named Freshman of the Year in 2011.