Presenting the 2025 SSC Women’s Swimmer, Coach, and Freshman of the Year
MELBOURNE, Fla. - The Sunshine State Conference is pleased to announce the 2025 women's swimming individual awards. Luna Mertins of Lynn takes Swimmer of the Year accolades. Kristina Orban and Ben Hewitt from Nova Southeastern are named Freshman and Coach of the Year.
League coaches vote on the SSC Swimmer, Freshman, and Coach of the Year awards following the NCAA Division II National Championship. All-SSC swimmers were selected earlier this season following the conference championship meet, which was held February 12-16 at Florida Aquatics Swimming Training in Ocala.
2025 SSC Women's Swimming All-Conference Awards
Mertins collects SSC Swimmer of the Year accolades after being named CSCAA National Swimmer of the Year following a tremendous showing at the NCAA championship. The Friedberg, Germany native won two individual national titles, set two NCAA Division II Records, owns five SSC records, and was named the 2025 SSC Championship Swimmer of the Meet. Mertins joins Rebecca Matthews (2014-15 & 2015-16) as the only Fighting Knights to be named conference Swimmer of the Year.
The senior took home individual national titles in the 100 Fly and 100 Free, setting NCAA D2 records in both events. Mertins also finished second in the 100 Back and third in the 50 Free at the NCAA meet. She owns SSC records in all four events and the 200 Free Relay. With Mertin's performance, Lynn finished fifth at the NCAA Championship.
2025 NCAA Meet Recap: SSC Swimmers Win 11 National Titles, Earn 246 All-America Honors
Orban collects Freshman of the Year accolades following her national titles in the 200 Free and 800 Free Relay. In addition to the 200 Free and 800 Free Relay, Orban was named an All-America in the 50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, and 100 Back (HM). The Malmo, Sweden product is part of the 200 Medley Relay squad that owns the SSC overall records. She also holds the conference meet records in the 200 Free, 200 Free Relay, and 200 Medley Relay. Orban becomes the fifth Shark to earn SSC Women's Swimming Freshman of the Year honors and the first since 2022-23
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SSC Records / Top Times |
Women's Swimmers and Coaches of the Year
Hewitt five-peats as SSC Women's Swimming Coach of the Year, earning the award for a league-leading seventh time
2 after piloting the Sharks to a third consecutive national championship. With Hewitt's guidance, the Shark swimmers won three individual/relay national titles at the NCAA championship, broke two conference records, and set three SSC meet records. Additionally, 10 NSU women won a combined 47 All-America honors.
1 Previous NSU Freshmen of the Year: Bryndis Hansen (2014-15), Emma Sundstedt (2017-18), Sasha Maslova (2018-19), Emilia Ronningdal (2022-23).
2 Hewitt also won in 2016-17, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24