Brett Saunders Voted SSC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year

MELBOURNE, Fla. – Brett Saunders, a member of the University of Tampa men's swim team, has been selected as the 2019-20 Sunshine State Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The graduate student is the reigning SSC Men's Swimmer of the Year and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Finance.

Voting for the award is conducted among Athletic Directors, Senior Woman Administrators, Athletic Communication Directors, and Faculty Athletic Representatives from the 11 SSC member institutions.

The Newark, Delaware native, graduated from Tampa in the Fall of 2019 with a 3.96-grade point average. Saunders earned Dean's List honors each semester during undergraduate education and is a three-time CSCAA Scholar All-American honoree as well as a three-time SSC Commissioner's Honor Roll recipient. Saunders, a Phi Kappa Phi member, holds various professional organization memberships, certifications, and licenses as he pursues a Master of Science in Finance.

In the community, Saunders volunteered along with his teammates working local meets and coaching at various clinics. As part of Spartan Mentors, he volunteered his time working as a teacher's aid weekly. Saunders has also worked as a camp counselor at Camp Ak-O-Mak in Canada for the past five years coordinating programming and competitions in Olympic sports.

In the pool, this season, Saunders and his teammates brought Tampa its first SSC Men's Championship. He was named the Swimmer of the Meet at the championship by scoring the most individual points at the event. Saunders was then named Men's Swimmer of the Year by vote from conference coaches and a CSCAA All-American for the second consecutive year. Saunders holds the league's 400 IM record and individual SSC meet records in the 400 IM and 200 Backstroke. Saunders and his teammates also broke the championship's 200 Medley Relay in 2020. Additionally, he was named the 2020 UT Male Athlete of the Year by Sports Club of Tampa Bay.

He is the third Tampa student-athlete to be honored as SSC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year since the award was created in 1995-96. Previous Spartans to win the award were: Henrik Nebrelius (Soccer 1997-98) and Lars Benner (Cross Country - 2016-17).

Complete Listing: SSC Scholar-Athletes of the Year