Making a splash: Meet the 2023 All-Gainesville Area boys swim team, coach and swimmer of the year

For years, Eastside struggled to gain traction in the pool.

Prior to this season, the Rams hadn’t seen an individual state champion since former Stanford swimmer Wesley Olmsted in 2013. The team had never won a relay title.

This season, Liam Aleman arrived on the east side and everything changed.

The product of Asheville, North Carolina, splashed onto the local swim scene and ended the Rams title drought.

Now, Aleman is the Gainesville Sun’s boys swimmer of the year.

The senior won five medals total in Class 2A at the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) State Championships on November 3 at FAST in Ocala.

He took home gold in the 100 yard breaststroke, 200 yard IM and 200 yard medley relay. Silver came in the team title, as Eastside finished behind just Bishop Kenny, and bronze in the 400 yard medley relay.

Aleman is the area’s lone state individual champion. A member of Gator Swim Club, he will compete this week at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville, Tennessee, alongside Gator legends Bobby Finke and Caeleb Dressel.

Ranked as the 20th best swimming prospect in Florida by swimcloud.com, Aleman hopes to continue swimming at the next level.

The full All-Area team and Coach of the Year can be viewed below. More than half of the nine honorees compete for the Rams, with the remaining four from city schools – two Buchholz, one Gainesville and one PK Yonge.

All-Gainesville Area Boys Swim and Dive team

Liam Aleman (Eastside): 1st 100 breaststroke, 1st 200 IM, 1st 200 medley relay, 2nd team, 3rd 400 medley relay

Eric Gong (Eastside): 1st 200 medley relay, 2nd team, 3rd 400 medley relay, 4th 100 butterfly, 11th 200 IM

Chris Jeong (Eastside): 1st 200 medley relay, 2nd team, 11th 500 freestyle, 12th 100 backstroke

Will Sammy (Buchholz): 16th 400 freestyle relay

Abraham Burangulov (Eastside): 1st 200 medley relay, 2nd team, 3rd 400 medley relay, 10th 100 freestyle, 12th 100 breaststroke

Landen Culleton (Buchholz): 16th 400 freestyle relay

Jack Chase (PK Yonge): Class 1A, Region 1 7th 400 relay, 8th 200 medley relay, 8th 100 backstroke

Casey Whitaker (Gainesville): Class 3A, Region 1 9th 200 IM

Cheongmin Lee (Eastside): 3rd 400 medley relay

Coach of the Year: Jon Allen, Eastside

Led the Rams to its best finish in school history: Undefeated regular season, city champions, District Champions (9th year in a row), Region Runner Up, State Runner Up

Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: 2023 All-Gainesville Area Boys Swim Team and Swimmer and Coach of the Year