Braddock’s Anthony Pineiro, Gulliver’s Reese Rosenthal are Dade Swimmers of the Year

Braddock’s Anthony Pineiro and Gulliver Prep’s Reese Rosenthal’s individual efforts were paramount to their respective teams finishing as runners-up in their state championship meets this season.

That’s why they are the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Swimmers of the Year.

Pineiro, just a sophomore, won three state titles in the Class 4A meet. He took home top marks in the 100 butterfly with a time of 48.43 seconds and 100 backstroke in 48.50 seconds in addition to swimming the second leg of Braddock’s state-winning 400 freestyle relay.

He had a chance to go a perfect 4 for 4, but Braddock’s 200 medley relay team that entered the meet as the top seed was disqualified in prelims.

Pineiro shaved nearly three seconds off his time in the backstroke and two seconds off his time in the butterfly compared to his performance at state as a freshman.

“I’m really happy about the results that I got this year,” Pineiro said. “We could have done better just because of the [disqualified] relay, but overall this was my goal to be a two-time state champ. ... I’m just going to keep working hard and try to accomplish that [again] over the next two years.”

Since Pineiro joined the Braddock boys’ swimming team, the Bulldogs have posted back-to-back runner-up team finishes at state. The year before he joined, in 2021, Braddock finished tied for 33rd.

“You’ve noticed a lot since last year that we’ve all gotten better in our ways,” Pineiro said. “We’re definitely going to be up there again next year and closer than we were this year.”

Rosenthal, meanwhile, went from primarily being a contributor on relays a year ago to also putting up big performances in her in her individual events this season.

A junior, Rosenthal won her first individual state title in the 100 breaststroke. Her time of 1:03.13 was more than two seconds faster than she swam a season ago. Rosenthal also finished fourth in the 50 freestyle in addition to being part of two Gulliver relay teams — the 200 medley and 200 freestyle — that posted runner-up finishes.

“I’m very proud,” Rosenthal said. “It’s not an easy thing to do. It took a lot of hard work going to practice every day, sometimes double [practices]. It’s great to have it all pay off.”