T&T swimmer, Dylan Carter capped off a coronavirus-hit 2020 season by being voted as the 2020 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) SwimSwam 'Male Athlete of the Year" awardee last month.
It was the second time Carter copped the award after doing so in 2018, becoming the second T&T swimmer to do so behind Olympic and World Championship medal winner, George Bovell III, who took the award in 2014.
This after Carter, a former University of Southern California 'Trojans' swim team proved to be a force for his team LA Current during the second International Swim League which was held in a 'bubble' at the 25m short course pool in Duna, Hungary during October and November.
Late in the season, with a finals playoff berth on the line, the 24-year-old Carter who turns 25 on January 30 exploded at the regular-season finale, going 50.11 seconds in the 100 metres (short course meter) backstroke to help his team to a 1-2 finish.
Known more for his butterfly and freestyle events, Carter continued to surge in backstroke, going 23.28 seconds, 23.93 seconds, and 24.99 seconds in the 50m backstroke skin race to complete a 1-2 sweep for LA.
Carter would ultimately set T&T records in the 100m backstrokes (49.91), 100m freestyle (46.56) and 100 butterfly (50.70) events this ISL season, leaving him with seven national records in short course metros, and nine more in long course metres.
A Commonwealth Games medal winner, the first-ever for T&T in the sport of swimming at the last edition held on the Gold Coast in Australia, Carter hit double-digit scoring in two separate matches, cracking the top 150 in "Most Valuable Player" scoring across the entire league for the season. His LA Current team wound up in the league final, taking fourth overall.
Previous Winners:
2014 Swammy – George Bovell, T&T
2015 Swammy – (Vacant – combined South American & CAC Award, Thiago Pereira of Brazil won)
2016 Swammy – Marcelo Acosta, El Salvador
2017 Swammy – Mauro Castillo-Luna, Mexico
2018 Swammy – Dylan Carter, T&T
2019 Swammy – Ricardo Vargas, Mexico
2020 Swammy – Dylan Carter, T&T