MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's and women's swim programs secured half of the Sunshine State Conference's top end of the year awards to conclude the 2016-17 season on Thursday. The Sharks'
Emma Wahlstrom and
Anton Lobanov were both named SSC Swimmers of the Year, while head coach
Ben Hewitt earned women's Coach of the Year honors.
Hewitt is awarded his first and Nova Southeastern's second SSC Women's Swimming Coach of the Year honor in his debut season. He led the Sharks to their third SSC women's championship this past February and a fourth-place finished among 40 scoring teams at the national championship.
Wahlstrom is the second student-athlete from NSU to be named Women's Swimmer of the Year. The senior became this year's NCAA champion in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:46.81. She also placed second in the 500 free, third in the 100 free and 11
th in the 100 backstroke at the national meet. In relay competition at the championship, Wahlstrom helped NSU to third place in the 800 free relay, fourth in the 400 medley relay and seventh in the 400 free relay.
In 2016-17, the Stockholm Sweden native set individual conference records in the 200 free (1:46.43) and 500 free (4:46.87). In relays, Wahlstrom and the Sharks set the 400 freestyle relay (3:23.89) and the 400 medley relay (3:42.59) conference records. She also set SSC Championship records in the 100 backstroke, 400 freestyle relay, 400 medley relay as well as top SSC times in the 100 free, 100 and 200 backstroke. Altogether, Wahlstrom has her name on seven SSC records and six SSC Championship records.
Lobanov becomes the third straight men's student-athlete from NSU to be named Men's Swimmer of the Year. The junior won his third consecutive titles in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events at 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 eight in the 200 freestyle relay. Overall, the Novosibirsk, Russia native holds six NCAA titles and two NCAA Division II records. He is also part of three SSC Championship relay records, two of which were set at the 2017 event.
The remaining SSC swimming awards go to Saint Leo's Annie Lindstrom as the Women's SSC Freshman of the Year, Tampa's Sean Rodney was voted as the Men's Freshman of the Year, while Florida Southern head coach Mike Blum earned SSC Men's Coach of the Year.
