A trio of Gator Swim Club post-grads are leaving the program to head south and train with the elite group of the Davie Nadadores in Miami. Joey Pedraza,Alex Gomez, andRoberto Gomez.
The two Gomez’s were both 2012 Olympians representing their native Venezuela, and Pedraza, a Cuban-born American, is a member of the USA Swimming Open Water National Team. Roberto Gomez, the elder brother, was a two-time All-American but wrapped his collegiate eligibility in 2010. Prior to his time at Florida, he was a National Champion at Indian River State College, the top Junior College program in the country.
Alex Gomez swam collegiately for TCU before coming to train with the Gators as a post-graduate.
Pedraza was a multiple-time NCAA qualifier at Florida, but in high school trained with the Nadadores on his way to breaking the Florida High School Record in the 500 free. By way of his top-6 finish at the Open Water National Championships in the spring, Pedraza is also a member of the United States Open Water National Team.
The Nadadores serve the local Miami community, but have also become a popular training destination for international swimmers. They have a huge group of Latin American swimmers, coming from countries where the levels of training and competition aren’t high enough to sharpen their skills, but also boast Olympians from Aruba, Italy, and Kuwait. 17 swimmers at the 2012 London Olympics had ties to Davie either as swimmers, alumni, or campers, plus their coach Alex Pussieldi who accompanied former Georgia Bulldog Yousef Alaskari as a member of the Kuwaiti delegation.
So diverse is the Nadadores program that they actually have English, Spanish, and Portuguese versions of their team website.