Alabama’s Robert Howard Voted 2019 SEC Male Swimmer of the Year

4/10/2019 12:30:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

The Alexander City, Ala., native is the first in SEC history to earn both swimmer and scholar-athlete of the year in the same season

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama senior Robert Howard was named the Southeastern Conference Male Swimmer of the Year by a vote of the league coaches, the conference office announced Wednesday.

"This is a tremendous honor for Robert and our program," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. "He's a great example of someone who came in and worked extremely hard and focused on getting the most out of his talents in all aspects of the collegiate experience."

The Alexander City, Ala., native posted the highest individual finish by an SEC swimmer at the 2019 NCAA Championships, taking third in the 50 freestyle. He also anchored the Crimson Tide's NCAA Champion 200 medley relay and reached the championship final of the 100 freestyle, where he finished fifth.

At last month's SEC Championships, Howard earned the Commissioner's Trophy as the individual high-point scorer, was voted the male swimmer of the meet as well as the SEC Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the head coaches. Howard has also been named a candidate for the H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Postgraduate Scholarship, awarded annually to the SEC's top scholar-athlete.

"We're very proud of the fact that Robert has excelled at the highest levels in both the pool and the classroom, continuing the proud tradition our program has established in both areas," Pursley said.

Howard is the first in conference history to earn both SEC swimmer and scholar-athlete of the year in the same season. He is also the fourth member of the Alabama men's team to earn SEC Swimmer of the Year honors and the first since Kristian Gkolomeev in 2015.

The conference also announced the 2019 All-SEC teams. Seniors Knox Auerbach, Laurent Bams and Howard, junior Zane Waddell, sophomores Jack Blake and Sam DiSette and freshman Jonathan Berneburg all earned first-team honors. Freshman Kensey McMahon earned second-team honors as well as a place on the SEC All-Freshman team, where she was joined by Kalia Antoniou, Kevin Li, Nico Perner and Rhyan White

For the All-SEC Teams, the First Team consists of the top finisher in each event at the SEC Championships, and the Second Team consists of the second- and third-place finishers in each event. The All-Freshman Teams consist of any redshirt or true freshman who finished either in the top eight or is the highest scoring freshman in each event at the SEC Championships, excluding relay events.

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