Brett Saunders Named to SSC All-Decade Men's Swimming Team

MELBOURNE, Fla. - The Sunshine State Conference announces its 2010-11 to 2019-20 Men's Swimming All-Decade honors. Voters named sixteen student-athletes from five programs as All-Decade, including University of Tampa standout Brett Saunders. Swimmer of the Decade and Coach of the Decade accolades went to Florida Southern College standouts Jeb Halfacre and Duncan Sherrard. All-Decade voting took place among the league's administrators and swimming coaches.

SSC Men's Swimming History: ALL-SSC Teams | Swimmers & Coaches of the Year | Conference Champions | Individual National Champions

An All-American in 2019 and 2020, Saunders established two new SSC records in his time as a Spartan. He won the three SSC championships in 2020, including the 200 Back, 200 IM and 400 IM. In 2019, he championed the 100 Breast.

Among his SSC records were the 400 IM in 2019-20, with a time of 3:46.50, after swimming the event in 3:51.05 as a freshman in 2016-17. He was also part of the 2020 SSC championship team in the 800 freestyle relay and the 2020 SSC 200 medley relay. He was also honored as the 2020 SSC Swimmer of the Year.

Halfacre is honored as Swimmer of the Decade following three dominant years in the pool for Florida Southern. The Gainesville, Florida native, was a two-time SSC Male Athlete of Year and three-time SSC Swimmer of the Year during his time as a Moccasin. He led FSC to three Top-8 finishes at the NCAA meet while collecting a total of 16 First Team All-America honors across eight events from the 2010-11 season to 2012-13. He was also crowned NCAA champion in the 200 Backstroke twice (2011, 2012) 400 Medley Relay twice (2011, 2012), 200 Medley Relay (2013), and 800 Free Relay (2012). 

Voters tabbed FSC's Sherrard as the SSC Coach of the Decade. From 2011-15 he guided the Moccasins to three SSC Championships and five NCAA Championship Top-10 finishes, including back-to-back runner-up performances in 2013 and 2014. Sherrard's teams produced 29 All-SSC selections, four league Swimmers of the Year, and 203 All-America performances. He earned SSC Coach of the Year honors in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.

The SSC All-Decade awards include eleven SSC Swimmer of the Year honorees and all six individual national champions from the league from 2010-11 to 2019-20. Additionally, four men earned three or more All-SSC First Team nods: Halfacre, Luis Rojas, and Matthew Holmes from Florida Southern College and Victor Rocha Furtado from Florida Tech.

SSC Men's Swimming from 2010-11 to 2019-20

Swimming became a Sunshine State Conference sport on April 7th, 2010. In the decade since, three SSC programs have hoisted the SSC championship trophy, led by Nova Southeastern with five titles. Florida Southern follows with four conference titles, and Tampa boasts the most recent SSC championship. Eight men have combined for the league's 17 individual national championships, while eight relay teams have won a championship trophy at the NCAA meet. Nova Southeastern (10), Tampa (10), Florida Southern (9), Saint Leo (9), and Florida Tech (5) have combined for 43 team scoring performances at the NCAA championship meet during the decade. Led by FSC's runner-up performances in 2013 and 2014, league teams have combined for 19 Top-10 finishes at the National Championship.

2010-11 to 2019-20 SSC Men's Swimming All-Decade First Team

Miguel Ferreira, Florida Southern (2011-13)
Allan Gutierrez, Florida Southern (2011-15)
Jeb Halfacre, Florida Southern (2011-13)
Matthew Holmes, Florida Southern (2015-19)
Anton Lobanov, Nova Southeastern (2014-17)
Franco Lupoli, Nova Southeastern (2016-18)
Brett Saunders, Tampa (2016-20)
Thiago Sickert, Nova Southeastern (2014-17)

2010-11 to 2019-20 SSC Men's Swimming All-Decade Second Team