Caeleb Dressel, who just wrapped up his senior year at UF, received the 2017-18 Roy F. Kramer Southeastern Conference Male Athlete of the Year award after a stellar season of swimming. He is the first Male to be named as the winner from Florida since Tim Tebow in 2009. Hannah Rodgers, Lauren Haeger, and Bridget Sloan received the Female Athlete of the Year Awards as Gators from 2014-16.
Dressel's accomplishments this season via: SwimmingWorldMagazine.com
- Dressel had one of the most accomplished NCAA Championships in history, earning four titles in four days (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 200 FR).
- With those four titles, he passed Ryan Lochte (8) for the most National Championships all-time on the men’s side.
- His time of 17.63 in the 50 free is an American, NCAA, US Open, UF and pool record and he is the first human to have ever broke 18 seconds in the event – he did so, twice.
- He became the first man in history to sweep the 50 free and the 14th man to sweep any event during his four-year college career.
- Became the first human to break 40 seconds in the 100 free, posting a time of 39.90 to earn his third title in the event.
- Won his second title in the 100 fly, breaking the American, NCAA, US Open, UF and pool records with his mark of 42.80.
- Dressel earned his first relay title in the 200 free relay, finishing with a school record time of 1:14.39.
- This was the first 200 FR title in school history on the men’s side.
- He earned seven All-America honors (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 200 FR, 400 FR, 200 MR, 400 MR), bringing the total to 28 over his four years as a Gator.
- 28 All-America honors are the most that can be earned by any swimmer over the course of a career.
- Earned CSCAA Swimmer of the Year after his performance.
- Helped Florida to a fifth-place finish after scoring in all seven events he swam in.
- AAU James E. Sullivan Semifinalist.
- Laureus Breakout Athlete of the Year Finalist.
- Google Cloud Academic All-American.
- CSCAA Scholar All-America.
- SEC Male Swimmer of the Meet/Commissioner’s Trophy
- SEC Male Swimmer of the Year
- School Records held:
- 50 free – 17.63
- 100 free – 39.90
- 100 breast – 50.03
- 100 fly – 42.80
- 200 IM – 1:38.13
- 200 FR (Dressel, Switkowski, Martinez-Scarpe, M. Szaranek) – 1:14.39
- 400 FR (Baqlah, Switkowski, Dressel, M. Szaranek) – 2:45.73
- 200 MR (Taylor, Bray, Switkowski, Dressel) – 1:22.33
- 400 MR (B. Main, Dressel, Switkowski, Rooney) – 3:03.16
“It is an honor to be nominated for, let alone win, such a prestigious award. I am grateful to the athletic directors for selecting me to be in the company of all the other outstanding student-athletes in the conference. It has been a privilege to be a part of Gator Nation and the SEC.” – Florida swimmer Caeleb Dressel.
The female winner of the Award this year was University of South Carolina's A'ja Wilson, who was the #1 overall pick in this year's WNBA draft.