Sean Ledford is a relative newcomer on the area swimming scene, a transplant from the Buffalo area who has lived in Sebastian for less than two years.

Each had a huge impact in the pool this fall.

Ledford, a junior at Sebastian River, won a Class 3A district title in the 100-yard butterfly, placed second at the regional and then fifth at state, clocking in at 50.55, which was fast enough to earn All-America consideration.

For their accomplishments, Toner and Ledford have been named the 2010 Scripps Treasure Coast All-Area Swimming and Diving Athletes of the Year.

"I definitely wanted to keep the tradition of being district champion, and then my goal was to be regional champ," said Toner, who is coached at the Pine School by her father, Pat, but travels to Indian River State College to train with dive coach Dave Suba.

Toner, who made her first trip to state as a sixth grader, increased the difficulty of her dives this year. She missed first place by 26 points.

"I knew the whole time it had to be close, but I didn't know where I was in the ranking," she said. "As the two cuts came, I was thankful to make the last one. I just tried to stay calm and go after my dives."

What sets Toner apart from many divers is that she also contributes in the pool. She qualified for the regional meet in the butterfly and swam legs on the district-champion 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams to help Pine School win its first district championship as a team. Both relay teams advanced to state.

Ledford actually trained through the state meet, in preparation for this month's junior national championships, but was still pleased with his performance.

"I wanted to get down to a 50 in the 100 fly, which I did," he said. "Next year, I'm going for a state championship, and I'll probably taper more."

Ledford began swimming when he was 7 years old and got serious when he was about 12. The family made the move to Florida in July 2009 to help further his swimming career. His goal is to swim in college, and his top choices are Texas, Florida and Stanford.

"It's a lot more competitive down here," he said. "Everyone is faster. The sport is huge here, compared to New York I didn't swim high school up there because I would have had two different coaches. That's why I'm doing it down here, because Scott [Barlow] is my coach for both [high school and club]."

BOYS ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

SEAN LEDFORD

Sebastian River junior

District 7-3A: First in 100 fly (52.15), second in 100 back (55.95), on second-place 200 medley relay

Region 3-3A: Second in 100 fly (52.36), fourth in 100 back (56.13), on third-place 200 medley relay and ninth-place 400 free relay

Class 3A state: Fifth in 100 fly (50.55, All-American consideration), 13th in 100 back (54.40)

Coach Scott Barlow: "I was very happy with his performance this year. He dropped his times, and that's the most important thing we discussed. You can't get too centered on trying to win because that deflects you from what you are trying to do. He swam the best he could and finished fifth in a very competitive class."

BOYS COACH OF THE YEAR

SCOTT BARLOW

Team: Sebastian River, fifth year

This season: Guided the Sharks boys and girls teams to an undefeated regular season; the boys finished third at the highly competitive District 7-3A meet and fourth at the Region 3-3A meet.

Quotable: "The dual-meet season is not that important, in retrospect, when you get into the postseason, but it's a lot more fun because the team can be together more in a one-on-one matchup. To go undefeated was a lot of fun, probably the most fun I've had. Our guys team is young but is going to do nothing but improve."