Fishers Area Swimming Tigers’ Grace Gannon received the 13-Year-Old Girls National Swimmer of the Year award at the inaugural ORCA Awards. (Photo provided)
By RICHIE HALL
The future of the Fishers Area Swimming Tigers is strong, as the club can claim two national Swimmers of the Year at the International Swim Coaches Association’s ORCA Awards.
Grace Gannon was named the 13-Year-Old Female Swimmer of the Year during the ORCA Awards, which took place April 17 and 18 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Gannon joins Gabriel Brown, who won the Boys 9-Year-Old Swimmer of the Year. (Read about Gabriel’s story here.)
It was the second big award for Gannon during the past year. She won the “Swammy” Award as the country’s top 11-12 female swimmer. The “Swammy” was awarded by SwimSwam.com, a swimming website that features aquatics news from around the world.
“You’re blessed that your kid works so hard and is in a really good program and there’s a lot of friends and people that help you along the way,” said Mike Gannon, Grace’s father. “When you combine all that, you’re very appreciative as a parent. You appreciate the relationships you develop through swimming that helps inspire your kids and pushed them to work hard.”
During the short course season, Grace Gannon led the nation in the 50 butterfly, 100 butterfly, and 200 individual medley, while ranking in the national top 10 across multiple events including distance freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and IM.
Her success continued in long course competition, where she led the country in five events: the 1500 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, and 400 individual medley, while also earning additional top-10 national rankings.
At the championship level, Gannon was the 2025 Indiana Age Group State Championship High Point Champion in both short course and long course, winning 11 of 12 individual state titles. She also captured the USA Swimming Central Zone High Point Championship, winning all six of her individual events.
Grace Gannon is off to a great start in 2026. At the 2026 Indiana Age Group State Championships, competing in the 13–14 division, Gannon captured five individual state titles in the 1000 free, 1650 free, 400 IM, 200 butterfly, and 200 breaststroke. She also earned runner-up finishes in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, and contributed to four relay state championships, securing High Point honors for the 13–14 girls age group.
Gannon followed that performance with a strong showing at Speedo Sectionals, placing third in the 400 IM and fourth in the 200 breaststroke.
Above all, Mike Gannon is happy about what kind of person his daughter is, calling her “a humble kid and a good teammate and very respectful of her peers. My wife and I are very proud of her.”
Mike Gannon credited Grace’s coaches, including Steve Sanchez, Grace’s age group coach “since she was 6 years old,” and of course FAST head coach Joe Keller.
“It’s not by chance that athletes achieve this type of level,” Keller said of Gannon, Brown and his other swimmers. “It takes a lot of effort on everyone’s part and planning and the execution of it. That’s the involvement and engagement of our coaches, our families and our athletes. Just really proud that people are supporting what we deem as our culture of excellence. They want to be really good at what they do.”
