Once-in-a-lifetime swimmer, Seminole’s Joyce sets record
Seminole High senior Dawson Joyce made swimming history Friday night by winning both of his individual finals for the fourth consecutive year in the Class 4A state championship meet.
The Florida Gators’ recruit clocked a 19.77-second time to win the 50-yard freestyle final while shaving two-hundredths of a second off the Florida High School Athletic Association championships record of 19.79 he set a year ago. Joyce later added the 100 free crown — just as he had done the past three years — to tie the FHSAA’s modern-era record.
He dominated the 100 final at the Aquatic Center at Sailfish Splash Waterpark in Stuart with a 43.80 performance that topped second-place Sage Sungail (44.46) of Lake Brantley.
“[Joyce] is the greatest Florida high school swimmer in the modern history of our sport. It really is that special,” veteran Seminole coach Tony Ackerson said. “And the level of competition now, and the depth, is better than it’s ever been.”
Joyce had to overcome an injury that hindered his training for months to complete his perfect 8-for-8 finals streak and eclipse the Central Florida record of seven individual titles set by Lyman great Alex Forbes (2002-05).
“This was probably the hardest year for me,” Joyce said, “with the injuries and the pressure coming into this meet. The pressure of never being beat in that pool, that was a lot.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘I’m just going to race and have fun.’ I kept telling myself that over and over and over.”
In March, Joyce tore his labrum, a thick piece of tissue in the shoulder joint, while making a game-saving catch in the outfield for the Seminole baseball team. That forced Ackerson to rewrite training plans to minimize risk to the shoulder.
“We got him back in the water in May, barely swimming at all, with no dives. Mainly just kicking,” Ackerson said.
Pain in both knees in the fall further complicated Joyce’s comeback.
“Dawson had to battle different injuries,” Ackerson said. “The entire week before the district meet we shut him down totally to help him heal. He was out of the water completely for six days, up until he warmed up for the meet.”
Joyce overcame those setbacks and again found a way to save his best performance of the season for the state meet spotlight.
Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest’s Andrew Coan, who became a seven-time NCAA champ at Tennessee, was the only boys swimmer before Joyce to win eight consecutive boys individual state finals. Like Joyce, Coan won 50 and 100 free championships four years in a row (1973-76).
FHSAA state meets date to 1920 but the association adjusted its rules to limit swimmers to two individual events in 1945.
Joyce is a lock to be the Orlando Sentinel area boys swimmer of the year for the third consecutive season. He was the Florida Dairy Farmers state swimmer of the year as a junior after breaking FHSAA finals records with his 50 time and a 43.59 effort in the 100 free.
Counting four Seminole state relay wins earlier in his career, Joyce earned 12 gold medals.
“The biggest accomplishment was winning all four years,” Joyce said. “The 12-time state champ, that’s probably the biggest thing.”
Said Ackerson: “Twelve titles by one swimmer is something we’ll likely never see again in our lifetime.”