The Orange County Athletic Director’s Association (OCADA) gives out awards to two outstanding athletes each year, and Grant Shoults took home the men’s award last night.
He becomes the first male swimmer to win this award, with most of its recipients being football or basketball players. Notably, American swimming legend Janet Evans won this award in 1989, a year after she won 3 golds at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
“The Ken Fagans Male Athlete of the Year and the Margaret Davis Female Athlete of the Year honors the finest athletes in Orange County,” according to the OCADA website. Shoults competed for Santa Margarita Catholic High School, where he capped off his high school career with an outstanding senior season.
Shoults had two incredible performances at the CIF-Southern Section Division I championships in mid-May, breaking two different national high school records. He first unloaded a 1:33.26 in the 200 free to bust Maxime Rooney‘s hours-old mark of 1:33.70. He then took down the 500 free record with a 4:12.87, taking a full second off of Jack Conger‘s old record.
A soon-to-be freshman with the Stanford Cardinal, Shoults will compete at the Olympic Trials this month in Omaha to try to earn a spot on the 2016 USA Olympic Team.