Our Pavlik Orthodontics Athlete of the Week for the week of Oct. 30 is Lillie Nesty of the P.K. Yonge girls swim team.
Nesty, who will sign with the University of Texas on Thursday afternoon, repeated as Class 1A state champion in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 44.86 seconds. That was good for fifth all-time behind Isabel Ivey of Buchholz (1:44.68 in 2017).
She also competed in the 500 free for the first time at state and won a state title with a time of 4:43.12, which placed her in the top 15 all-time.
“Lillie was amazing,” said P.K. Yonge coach Kara Dawson. “This was probably the most competitive class in the state and Lillie won the 200 free by nearly two seconds and the 500 free by nearly six seconds. She was prepared and focused.”
Both times were Automatic All American times and she set two school records in the process.
“It’s kind of a once in a lifetime thing,” Dawson said. “These kinds of swimmers don’t come around very often so it’s just a pleasure to watch her and luckily she is actually a better person than she is a swimmer.”
Nesty, who is the daughter of University of Florida swimming coach Anthony Nesty, was also a part of the 400 relay team which finished with a season best time of 3:37.45 (10th place) and the 200 relay team, which finished with a season best time of 1:40.00 (12th place) as the Lady Blue Wave finished eighth overall.
The two individual state titles gives her three overall, including last year’s gold in the 200 free, in her final year of swimming at the high school level.
“She works really hard, she has good fundamentals, and if you’re going to be that good you really have to train consistently over a long period of time, and she does,” Dawson said. “She also has a very good head on her shoulders in terms of she keeps things in perspective and doesn’t ever get too high or too low, and she’s a competitor. She doesn’t like to lose.”
She becomes the 11th athlete to be selected for the weekly award.
Last week’s winner was Jordan Czaplewski of the Santa Fe (Alachua) volleyball team.
The senior had 40 kills in two games as the 2-time defending state champion Raiders won a pair of regional playoff games to advance to the Class 4A-Region 2 Final.
Other winners include Williston running back Jace McDonald, Nash Lantinen of the St. Francis Catholic Academy football team, Oak Hall setter/right side hitter Cassidy McDonald, Oak Hall quarterback Dakota Brower, GHS quarterback Kane Smith, Buchholz football player Myles Graham, Hawthorne wide receiver Alvon Isaac, Chiefland running back Osten Jones, and Newberry volleyball player Hailey Tharp.
Coaches can email their nominations each week, along with stats, no later than Sunday night to mike.ridaught@mainstreetdailynews.com.