2022 SSC Men’s Swimmer, Coach, and Freshman of the Year Announced
MELBOURNE, Fla. - The Sunshine State Conference is pleased to announce the 2022 men's swimming individual awards. Harold Lockhart from Rollins College earns Swimmer of the Year Honors following two national titles. Ludovico Viberti and Andy Robins from Florida Southern College have been named Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively.
SSC Swimmer, Freshman, and Coach of the Year awards are selected by a vote of the league's swimming coaches following the shortened NCAA Division II National Championship. All-SSC swimmers were selected earlier this season following the conference championship meet held February 16-20 at the Long Center in Clearwater.
2022 SSC Men's Swimming All-Conference Awards
Lockhart garners Swimmer of the Year after winning two individual national championships in 2022, the only two in Rollins history. He is the first athlete from Rollins to win SSC Swimmer of the Year accolades and the first to be named First Team All-SSC. His NCAA meet performance also vaulted the Tars to a program-best 17th place team finish.
The sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama, gained entry to the NCAA meet following “A” cuts in the 200 Free, 500 Free, and 1000 Free. Lockhart won his first national title in the 1000 Free with a time of 9:00.53, just missing the SSC record. He followed a national title in the 500 Free with a conference record time of 4:20.44. Additionally, he earned a third All-American honor as an individual with an eighth-place finish in the 200 Free (1:35.46). Lockhart led Rollins to Top-20 finishes in the 200 Free, 400 Free, and 800 Free Relays at the NCAA meet.
Viberti is honored as Freshman of the Year following a tremendous performance at the NCAA Meet. The Torino, Italy native claimed the national title in 100 Breast with a time of 52.35 and finished second in the 200 Breast following a 1:55.49 performance. Additionally, Viberti was on FSC’s 400 Medley Relay squad that finished third overall, breaking the SSC record with a time of 3:09.24. He is the fourth Florida Southern Moccasin to be named Freshman of the Year, first since 2017-181.
SSC Records / Top Times | Men's Swimmers and Coaches of the Year
Robins is named SSC Coach of the Year by his peers following Florida Southern's first conference championship in men's swimming since 2015-16 and a league-best fifth-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Division II meet. Under Robins' leadership, nine swimmers and five relay teams earned passage to the NCAA championship, six men were named to All-SSC teams, and FSC's program claimed SSC Freshman of the Year and 33 CSCAA All-America honors. This season FSC captured the conference's top time in nine events, broke four SSC meet records, and two overall league records. Robins is the third FSC coach to win SSC Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year2.
1 Previous FSC Freshman of the Year winners: Luis Rojas (2011-12), Sean Kim (2015-16), Matias Lopez (2017-18)
2 Previous FSC Coach of the Year Winners: Duncan Sherrard (2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15), Mike Blum (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18).