By RICHIE HALL
One of the best young swimmers in the country is also one of the first winners of an award to recognize that excellence.
Gabriel Brown, who swims with Fishers Area Swimming Tigers, was named the 9-year-old Boys National Swimmer of the Year at the inaugural ORCA Awards earlier this month. The awards were presented by the International Swim Coaches Association at a ceremony that took place April 17 and 18 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Brown was one of 18 Swimmers of the Year; there are categories for both boys and girls ranging from ages 9 to 18. (FAST’s Grace Gannon was named the 13-year-old Girls National Swimmer of the Year, a story will appear later this week in The Reporter.)
“He was pumped,” said Devon Brown, Gabriel’s father. “For age groupers, there’s not really any of these kinds of awards.”
Devon Brown said that SwimSwam, the online swimming news website, also puts together annual swimmers of the year awards, based on age categories. Gabriel was the runner-up in the 9-10 age division, “which was pretty cool,” said Devon Brown. “And then to be recognized as the top 9-year-old was incredible,” noting that the award “can never be taken away from him.”
To select the Swimmers of the Year, the ISCA looked through results to see who the top swimmers were and selected three preliminary finalists in each age group. From there the ISCA teamed with SwimStrong Dryland, an organization dedicated to dryland training to set criteria. Devon Brown said that criteria is “primarily skill based, but there is also some intangible stuff,” such as a swimmer’s coachability and soft skills that include “if they do anything else in the community.”
Gabriel, now 10 years old, is already a 23-time Indiana state champion and holds 34 Indiana Association records. He is ranked in all 23 events of USA Swimming’s Top 100 lists, including top 10 rankings in five events: the 200-yard, 400-meter and 500-yard freestyles, the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard backstroke.
Devon Brown said that Gabriel got a chance to meet “other kids that were in the same mentality he was,” who got the same joy out of competing at a high level.
“The festivities were amazing,” said Devon Brown. “They did a workout with Swim Strong Dryland. They worked with some of the top age coaches in the country.”
In fact, Gabriel got a chance to swim in a meet with the 11-year-old Girls winner, Anabelle Hayes of Irvine (Calif.) Novaquatics and 10-year-old Boys winner Luca Ferrera of SPA (Fla.). The three competed against each other in the 400 freestyle.
“They had three national champions all racing each other,” said Devon Brown. “It was fun to watch.”
And more opportunities are opening for Gabriel. The Browns will be traveling to Phoenix for a parent-athlete podcast with Herbie Behm, the Arizona State University coach who was named NCAA Division I College Coach of the Year at the ORCA Awards.
“We’re giving Coach Behm his award and Gabe gets to see Arizona State,” said Devon Brown. “That’s a key to a door we can’t normally unlock.”
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