Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year Honors
2015 Women’s Coach of the Year
2011 Men’s Coach of the Year
Sunshine State Conference Championships
2015: Women
2012: Men & Women
2011: Men
NCAA Champions
2016: Anton Lobanov (100-breast, 200-breast); Thiago Sickert (200-fly)
2015: Bryndis Hansen (50-free); Courtney DeVeny (400 IM); Anton Lobanov (100-breast, 200-breast); Thiago Sickert (100-free, 200-free)
2013: Erin Black (500-free); Oskar Nordstrand (500-free)
2012: Erin Black (500-free)
Hollie Bonewit-Cron just finished her sixth season as the head coach of the men’s and women’s swim teams, leading the Sharks to their sixth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance. Bonewit-Cron saw three 2016 national championship wins from top swimmers Anton Lobanov and Thiago Sickert, who helped lead the men to a record fourth-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving National Championship. The men and women also both claimed second place at the 2016 SSC Championships.
The 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons were banner years for the program as the women also saw the program's highest finish at NCAA Championships coming in fourth in 2015 along with the men's top finish in 2016. Between 2014 and 2016, the program saw eight NCAA Championship titles, 30 SSC Championship titles and an overall SSC Championship win for the women in 2015, which earned Bonewit-Cron the Women's Coach of the Year honor.
Bonewit-Cron joined the Nova Southeastern coaching staff in August 2009 to head up the swim programs, which began NCAA competition in the 2010-11 season. She has received two Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year honors, won four SSC Championships and has earned 12 individual NCAA Championships from six individual NCAA Champions. Bonewit-Cron is a 16-year collegiate coaching veteran. During her tenure at NSU, she was named the Head Olympic Swim Coach for the country of Grenada where she coached NSU standout Esau Simpson to a new Grenadian National record at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
In the program’s six years of NCAA competition, Bonewit-Cron has also helped NSU garner 61 SSC Championship titles, 66 All-American honors and 85 All-American Honorable Mentions. Under Bonewit-Cron’s helm, four swimmers have been named SSC Swimmer of the Year, three have received SSC Freshman of the Year honors and four have been named the SSC Swimmer of the Meet. There have also been 33 student-athletes named to the All-SSC First Team and 22 named to the All-SSC Second Team.
Not only has Bonewit-Cron been successful in the water, she has overseen both programs that have achieved academic excellence in the classroom. Under her direction, she has produced 41 Scholar All-Americans and Scholar Honorable Mention All-Americans and received Team Scholar All-American honors nine times. The program has also had seven swimmers named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large Team for District 5.
The Program’s Start
Under Bonewit-Cron’s guidance, the Sharks swim programs experienced instant success, which started with the men’s team winning the inaugural Sunshine State Conference championship in the spring of 2011, an honor that earned her the Men’s Coach of the Year Award. Eight first-time Sharks (six men and two women) went on to advance to the program’s first-ever appearance at the NCAA Division II National Championship in San Antonio, seven of which brought home either All-America or Honorable Mention All-America Honors.
The next year saw even greater success as Bonewit-Cron guided both the men’s and women’s programs to the SSC title. It was the second straight title for the men and first for the women. Nineteen student-athletes also advanced to the NCAA National Championships in Mansfield, Texas where Erin Black (Ft. Myers, Fla.) brought home the swimming program’s first-ever individual national title in the 500-yard freestyle. Each one of the 19 swimmers earned either All-America or Honorable Mention All-America honors.
Prior to NSU
Prior to NSU, she spent one year as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Miami where she was primarily responsible for overseeing and planning of the daily training regimen of the breaststroke group. She was also certified as an Infant Swimming Resource instructor.
Before UM, she spent the bulk of her coaching career (2002-2008) as the assistant men's and women's swim coach at the University of Florida. She assisted in coaching and overseeing a wealth of success for the Gators including 12 NCAA DI Individual Championships, 50 Southeastern Conference Championships, 198 All-American honors for the women, 222 All-American honors for the men, and five Olympians in two Olympics for a total of 4 gold medals, 4 silver medals, and 3 bronze medals.
Bonewit-Cron launched her collegiate coaching career at Georgia Southern University in 2000 as the Assistant Women's Swim Coach. She was later promoted to the Interim Head Coach overseeing 28 female swimmers until assuming the position at Florida.
Collegiate Career
A three-time Mid-American Conference All-First Team selection, Bonewit-Cron earned four varsity letters in swimming at Ohio University from 1996-2000. As a senior, she earned All-America honors in the 200-meter breaststroke at the NCAA Division I Championships. She won six MAC Championships in 2000, capturing titles in the 200-yard breaststroke, 400-yard individual medley, the 200- and 400-yard medley relay, and the 400- and 800-yard freestyle relay. Bonewit-Cron also led Ohio to the MAC team title and was a Senior National Qualifier for the third straight year.
During her four-year career at Ohio, Bonewit-Cron was a 17-time MAC champion, including three consecutive titles in the 200- and 400-yard medley relay, as well as the 400- and 800-yard freestyle relay. She set school records in the 400-yard individual medley and MAC records in the 200-yard breaststroke, 400-yard freestyle relay, and the 200- and 400-yard medley relays. A three-time medalist in the 400-yard individual medley and two-time medalist in the 200-yard breaststroke, she was awarded MAC Swimmer of the Year honors after her junior season. In 2000, she was also an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke as well as the 400-yard individual medley. She was also ranked 42nd in the world in the 200-meter breaststroke.
Personal
Bonewit-Cron is a native of Athens, Ohio and graduated with a B.A. in Psychology in 2000 at Ohio University. Afterwards, she received her master's degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in sport psychology from Georgia Southern University in 2002. She currently resides in Davie, Florida with her husband, Chad, and daughters, Evalyn and Emersyn.
