Diver Sean Dowling saved his best for last, both literally and figuratively, and captured his first championship on Saturday in the Class 1A state meet at Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training Center (FAST) in Ocala.

The Oxbridge Academy senior Sean Dowling won the 1-meter diving competition with a score of 478.00 on his final dive. Dowling, a National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA) All-American, has medaled at states, improving every year. He finished fifth as a freshman, bronze as a sophomore, and was runner-up last year.

Dowling edged out University School sophomore Andres Winterman (461.75) in a run of South Florida divers. University School senior teammate Mason Starkman (fourth, 405.85) and Pine Crest junior Ashton Jacobi (fifth, 403.75).

“It was absolutely a great finish for my senior season,” Dowling said. “It was an extremely exciting competition that came down to the last dive. Without a doubt, it is the highlight of my high-school career, and a good way to transition into my NCAA career at Duke University. I couldn’t be more grateful for my coaches, Patrick Cantrell and Michelle Sandelin.”

Dowling was behind by less than a point going into the second-to-last dive. He said he purposely saved his strongest two dives for the final two rounds.

“My 305c (reverse 2.5 somersaults) was the best I’ve ever done, and I scored 63 points to give myself a 19-point lead going into the last round,” Dowling said. “It gave me the confidence I needed to hit my last dive as well and secure the gold medal. After finishing second last year, I knew this year would be my final opportunity to win gold. Oxbridge allowed me to accommodate my schedule to allow morning practices in addition to my afternoon practices. I worked as hard as ever to reach this goal, and today it paid off.”

Winterman’s last two dives were a 105b (forward 2.5 somersaults) for 42.9 points, and 305c (reverse 2.5 somersaults) for 51 points.

University School junior Juan Vallmitjana won state in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events on Saturday in the Class 1A state meet at Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training Center (FAST) in Ocala. (University School Athletics/Courtesy)

University School junior Juan Vallmitjana won state in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events.

Vallmitjana, who was second at state in the 500-yard freestyle and third in the 200-yard freestyle last year, took the 200 with a 1:37.34 clocking and followed that up with a personal best 4:23.80, dropping nearly three seconds off his previous best time. He sliced more than two seconds off his 200 time.

“I wouldn’t say I was shocked to win both (events), but I was definitely happy,” said Vallmitjana, a University of Virginia commit. “The last 10 meters of the 200, I was ahead and seeing I was probably going to win, and that was pretty cool.

“This is definitely big considering two years ago I didn’t even make the ‘A final’ (fast heat) in the 200 free and last year I got third and second,” Vallmitjana added. “It was definitely a big relief being able to win, and win both events. I was kind of confident in the 500 and thought I would get top 3 in the 200.”

St. Andrew’s boys finished tied with Montverde Academy for second with 214 points. Pine Crest was fourth with 135 points, while King’s Academy was sixth and University School was eighth with 98 points. Jacksonville Bolles swept the Class 1A swim titles as the boys finished with a national record 619 points and padded their historic consecutive state championship win streak to 38 for the boys and 35 for the girls (480 points).

Jupiter Christian junior Trey Chesney placed fourth in the 200 IM (1:49.84) ahead of St. Andrew’s junior Jared Berke (1:50.06), who was fifth. Benjamin freshman Trace Colton was fifth in the 100 fly (50.17), just ahead of Chesney (6th, 50.40), Pine Crest junior Brady Baur (7th, 50.62), and St. Andrew’s senior Conner Brinley (8th, 51.44).

Brinley also took fifth in the 100 back (50.94), while Berke was sixth in the 100 breast (56.17); St. Andrew’s sophomore Enrico Guizardi was seventh in the 100 breast, and King’s Academy senior Drew McQueeney was eighth (57.37).

St. Andrew’s senior William Domokos-Murphy placed fifth in the 500 free (4:33.03), and King’s Academy Asher Smith was sixth in the 100 back (51.61).

St. Andrew’s was second in the 200 medley relay (1:33.08), King’s Academy (fourth, 1:33.49), and Pine Crest was eighth (1:39.22).

St. Andrew’s was third in the 200 free relay (1:23.83), while Westminster Academy (fifth, 1:26.05), King’s Academy (sixth, 1:26.47), Pine Crest (seventh, 1:26.89), and Oxbridge Academy (eighth, 1:27.53) all made the podium.

St. Andrew’s was third in the 400 free relay (3:04.08), while Pine Crest was fifth (3:09.48) and King’s Academy (3:11.11) was eighth.

Coral Springs Charter boys get program-best 8th in 2A

Coral Springs Charter School junior John Albornoz was second in the boys’ 200 IM (1:53.56) and sixth in the 100 breast (57.91) to help the Panthers to their best finish ever in the Class 2A state meet at Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training Center (FAST) in Ocala on Friday night.

Albornoz said he was nervous going into the meet.

“I was nervous the whole week before,” Albornoz said by phone. “I had specific training to do and taper. I was just excited to go up there with my school and friends.”

Listening to music before competing helped Albornoz relax before his events.

“It helped me mentalize,” said Albornoz, who also qualified for states in his freshman and sophomore years, but never reached the finals. “I just visualized my races. It was pretty huge to do as well as we did, especially with 12 swimmers (5 boys, 7 girls). I feel like this (performance) will help me get noticed by colleges.”

Coral Springs Charter finished 34th at state last year in the boys competition and moved up to eighth this season with 92 points, a school best.

When Coral Springs Charter swim coach Sheri Wells took over the program a decade ago, she said there was “work to do.” As the middle school swimmers gained experience, the team became more competitive.

“This is definitely the highest finish at state,” Wells said. “We have never had this many medals either. It is so awesome. It really, really is. It couldn’t have gone better. We were always competing with the private schools, and then we got moved up to 2A last year. We thought we would do well, but we never thought it would be this well.”

Calvary Christian Academy took 13th (72 points), and American Heritage was 15th with 65 points. Bishop Kenny won the state title with 210.5 points.

Coral Springs Charter School junior Brian Hamilton was fifth in the boys’ 50 free (21.33), while Somerset Academy freshman Ethan Hall took sixth in the 100 free (47.20).

Coral Springs Charter boys placed fifth in the 200 medley relay. Calvary Christian Academy was fifth in the boys’ 200 free relay and seventh in the 400 free relay.

American Heritage coach Nobutaka Tan was pleased with his team’s performance at the state.

“I think we had a really good meet overall,” Tan said. “Our times improved steadily from districts to regionals to state, which is always hard to do. We had kids who stepped up in a lot of ways. It’s been a while, but we were able to bring all six relays (three boys, three girls) to state, and they all made finals – top 16. I wanted the kids to enjoy themselves, live in the moment, and they did that.”

 

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/11/09/dowling-wins-1a-state-boys-diving-title-vallmitjana-doubles/