Alabama’s Rhyan White Named SEC Female Swimmer of the Year
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The accolades continue to roll in for Alabama’s Rhyan White following an extraordinary season in the pool. The junior became the first Crimson Tide woman to be voted Southeastern Conference Swimmer of the Year, the league office announced Wednesday.
“This is a tremendous honor for Rhyan and our program," interim coach Ozzie Quevedo said in a press release. "To be voted as the SEC Swimmer of the Year by the league’s coaches says volumes about the kind of season she had. She and her teammates have worked extremely hard this season and it’s great to see it pay off this way. We’re also very proud of all our All-SEC honorees. This league is so tough and to have so many earn these honors says so much about the direction this program is going and that it is truly a team effort and not just one or two standouts. More than anything it fires us up for next season.”
The highest individual-point scorer from the SEC at the women’s NCAA Championships with 48 points, White finished in the top five in all three individual events she competed in at the NCAA Championships, taking the silver medal in both the 100 and 200 backstrokes and finishing fifth in the 100 butterfly. She also scored as part of the Tide’s 200 and 400 medley relays at the NCAA Championships.
Prior to the NCAA Championships, White was voted Female Swimmer of the Meet at the SEC Championships and won the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy as the highest individual-point scorer. The SEC record holder in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, White won both races for the second year in a row at the SEC Championships. She also won the SEC 100 butterfly title after taking second the year before.
White led off the gold-medal winning 200 medley relay with a 23.35 at the SEC Championships, the second-fastest 50 backstroke time in the history of swimming.
The Crimson Tide also came away with 19 All-SEC honors, including 10 swimmers who were named First Team All-SEC, five who earned Second Team All-SEC recognition and four who were named to the SEC All-Freshman squad. The Crimson Tide’s overall total ranks third in the league this season.
Alabama’s 2021 All-SEC Honorees
- Six UA women - Kalia Antoniou, Cora Dupre, Flora Molnar, Morgan Scott, Rhyan White and Kaila Wong – all earned First Team All-SEC honors
- Four Alabama men - Matt King, Jonathan Berneburg, Sam DiSette and Colton Stogner – were named First Team All-SEC
- Two Crimson Tide women – Kensey McMahon and Diana Petkova – and two UA men – Matt Menke and Derek Maas – were named Second Team All-SEC
- A total of four UA swimmers were named SEC All-Freshman, including Gracie Felner and Diana Petkova for the women and King and Eric Stelmar for the men
