Evangelical Christian's Brendan Peacock, Cape Coral's Steven Rua and Bishop Verot's Matthew Strickland were voted the top boys swimmers in Lee County. Wochit
HOW WE SELECT THE ALL-AREA TEAMS
At the conclusion of each high school season, The News-Press staff sends area coaches a nomination form to select and rank players for our all-area first teams and to also nominate athletes for second team and honorable mention. A combination of The News-Press’ research and the coaches’ player rankings lead to the teams being selected and three athletes being named finalists for player of the year. The three finalists are invited to The Southwest Florida Sports Awards to be held Wednesday, May 23 at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, where a player of the year for each will be announced along with other honors. Former Major League Baseball player John Kruk will be the featured speaker.
Boys Swimmer of the Year Finalists
Brendan Peacock
School: Evangelical Christian
Year: Sophomore
Highlights: After winning a Region A-3 championship in the 500-yard freestyle, Peacock went on to finish fourth in the event with a time of 4:31.82 at the Class A state championships. The District A-9 200 freestyle champion also took seventh at state in the event, turning in a 1:42.00.
Steven Rua
School: Cape Coral
Year: Junior
Highlights: Rua shined at the Class 2A state championships, clocking 1:55.73 in the 200 individual medley for a fourth-place finish and a 1:00.68 in the 100 breaststroke for a sixth-place finish. He won Region 2A-3, District 2A-10 and Lee County Athletic Conference titles in the 100 breast and was a regional runner-up in the 200 IM as well as a district and county champ in the event. His 200 medley relay team took second in the regional and first in the district and county.
Matthew Strickland
School: Bishop Verot
Year: Senior
Highlights: Slated to attend Florida State next year, Strickland placed fifth in the 500 freestyle (4:33.30) and 14th in the 200 freestyle (1:44.96) at the Class A state championships. He was the Region A-3 runner-up in the 500 freestyle and his 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams won District A-9 titles.
First team
Jack Pellegrino
School: Cape Coral
Year: Junior
Highlights: Pellegrino won District 2A-10 and LCAC titles in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle and was a part of the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay championship teams.
At the Class 2A state championships, he was fifth in the 500 freestyle (4:42.07) and ninth in the 200 freestyle (1:43.88). The Region 2A-4 runner-up 200 medley relay team was 10th (1:41.76) at state.
Michael Brent
School: Fort Myers
Year: Sophomore
Highlights: The District 3A-9 200 freestyle champ finished 23rd in the event at the Class 3A state championships in a time of 1:47.92.
Brent was the district runner-up in the 500 freestyle and rose up to finish 14th (4:47.96) in the event at state.
Cameron Dolly
School: Fort Myers
Year: Junior
Highlights: The LCAC 100 backstroke champion finished fourth in District 3A-9 and third in Region 3A-3 before taking 18th at the Class 3A championships with a time of 54.79. He also won a county 100 freestyle championship and went on to finish 18th (48.78) in the event at state.
Andrew Mills
School: Evangelical Christian
Year: Senior
Highlights: After winning a District A-9 title in the 100 butterfly, Mills recorded a time of 51.99 in the event to finish 13th in Class A.
Mills was the district runner-up in the 100 backstroke and took fifth in the event at the Region A-3 meet.
Nick Salzone
School: Bishop Verot
Year: Junior
Highlights: Salzone built on a runner-up finish in District A-9 and a fifth-place finish in Region A-3 in the 100 butterfly by posting a 51.77 in the event, which was good enough for 10th place at the Class A state championships.
Salzone was also a part of the district champion 200 and 400 freestyle teams.
Garrett Stanley
School: Bishop Verot
Year: Junior
Highlights: Stanley’s 54.06 in the 100 backstroke earned him a 13th place at the Class A state championships and his 2:00.76 in the 200 IM placed him 19th in the state.
The Region A-3 100 backstroke runner-up won LCAC titles in that event as well as the 200 IM. His 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay team won district championships as well.
Second Team
Josh Benzon, Canterbury
Conor Cranfield, Bishop Verot
Jacob Gorenyuk, Fort Myers
Kaleb Harriott, SFCA
Kirk Klemm, North Fort Myers
Santi Rosas, Cape Coral
Brandon Shepard, Bishop Verot
Ryan Staunch, Bishop Verot
Martin Vasquez, Cape Coral
Honorable mention
Bishop Verot: James, Humpel, Philip Van Genderen
Canterbury: Camilo Lilleslatten
Cape Coral: Joe Leon, Zach Baril
Cypress Lake: Chase Basler, Kevin Ordaz
Dunbar: Manny DaSilvia, Mason Osterhout
Estero: Alex Subbert
Fort Myers: Matt Enke, Grant Regnaert
Island Coast: Riley Baughman
Mariner: Nick O’Leary, Gabriel Casas
North Fort Myers: Robert Tejeda, Reinaldo Zayas
Oasis: Nicolas Quintana
Riverdale: Charlie Eggers, Marshall Grant
South Fort Myers: Julien Lancrerot, Stefean Stratman
Coach of the Year
Jason Baumgardner
School: Bishop Verot
Highlights: Baumgardner led the Vikings to a dominant showing at the District A-9 championships with 523 points. After a runner-up finish in Region A-3, the Vikings scored 48.5 points at the Class A state championships to earn 15th place.