Braddock’s Katia Garcia, Gulliver’s Chris George are Dade swimming coaches of the year

Katia Garcia saw her boys’ swimming team reach a level never seen before at Braddock. Chris George saw his girls’ team at Gulliver Prep continue its run of success.

Both teams finished as state runners-up — Garcia’s boys’ team doing so in Class 4A, George’s girls’ team doing so in Class 2A. Garcia and George, as a result, are the Miami Herald’s 2022 Dade swimming coaches of the year.

For Garcia, it was a final stamp on an incredible turnaround season. Braddock finished in a tie for 33rd place at state a year ago with just 19 points.

Twelve short months later, a still-young Braddock team jumped 31 places in the standings, racking up 212 points to finish behind Sarasota in Class 4A.

Sophomore George Gonzalez, the Miami Herald’s Dade boys swimmer of the year, was instrumental in the Bulldogs’ rise. He won a state title individually in the 100-yard freestyle and as the leadoff swimmer of Braddock’s 400-yard freestyle relay team and also finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke and third as part of Braddock’s 200-yard medley relay.

But Gonzalez was just the start. Sophomore Dylan Ferguson finished fifth in the 500-yard freestyle. Junior Marcelo Mansur finished sixth in both the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. Freshman Anthony Piniero finished sixth in the 100-yard butterfly and seventh in the 100-yard backstroke. And their 200-yard freestyle relay team of senior Juan Abella, Mansur, sophomore Robert Alvarez and Ferguson also finished sixth.

George’s girls’ team at Gulliver Prep, meanwhile, has steadily been among the top in its classification for some time now. Since George took over as head coach in 2016, the Gulliver Prep girls have won the team state title four times (2016-2018 and 2021) and never finished worse than third.

It was more of the same success in 2022, with the Raiders compiling 254 points at state, trailing only Tampa’s Academy of the Holy Names in the Class 2A field.

Gulliver Prep’s 200 medley relay team of Giovanna Musiello, Reese Rosenthal, Elyse Wood and Cassandra Kraft won an individual state title and the Raiders had five other top-three event finishes.

Musiello was runner-up in both the 200-yard IM and 100-yard backstroke and Rosenthal finished third individually in the 100-yard breaststroke.

The Raiders other two relays also landed on the podium, with their 400-yard freestyle relay team of Wood, Camila Saporta, Musiello and Aria Torretta finishing second and the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Rosenthal, Aria Torretta, Kraft and Sofia Ciperski tying for third.

This story was originally published January 12, 2023 at 8:00 AM.