South Florida HEAT’s Adam Madarassy is Broward swimming coach of year

Adam Madarassy’s powerhouse swimming program at South Florida HEAT took another step forward in 2022, with both of his teams producing top-five finishes at state in a stacked Class 1A meet.

That’s why Madarassy is the Miami Herald’s 2022 Broward swimming coach of the year.

South Florida HEAT’s boys’ team finished as the state runner-up in Class 1A while the girls finished fourth, both improvements from last season (fourth for the boys, ninth for the girls in 2021).

Just how good was South Florida HEAT this season? Collectively, the two teams won five individual events and had 13 total top-five finishes at the state championship meet at Stuart’s Sailfish Splash Waterpark and Aquatics Center in November.

Star juniors Kaii Winkler and Erika Pelaez, the Miami Herald’s Broward swimmers of the year for a second consecutive season, paved the way. Each won a pair of individual titles and set state records in the process, with Winkler winning the 100 yard freestyle and 200 yard freestyle while Pelaez took first place in the 100 yard butterfly and 100 yard backstroke. Pelaez also led off South Florida HEAT’s first-place-finishing 400-yard freestyle relay with a 48.08-second split that also set a state record for the fastest 100-yard freestyle performance.

In addition to those performances...

▪ South Florida HEAT’s two boys’ relay teams that qualified for state — the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle — produced runner-up finishes.

▪ The girls’ 200-yard medley relay finished third, as did Gioia Balzano individually in the girls’ 100-yard freestyle and Finn Winkler in the boys’ 100-yard backstroke.

▪ And the girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay finished in fifth place, as did Finn Winkler individually in the boys’ 100-yard freestyle and Giulian Martin in the boys’ 100-yard breaststroke.