Alabama All-American breaststroker Anton McKee has broken his collarbone while surfing, head coach Dennis Pursley has confirmed to SwimSwam this week.
The 20-year old native of Iceland underwent surgery to have two metal plates surgically implanted to help “facilitate the healing process,” and according to Pursley it will be “awhile” before he is back in the water.
The Alabama coaches are, however, hopeful that he will be fully recovered and back to normal by the end of the season.
McKee turned many heads last season in his first with Alabama, where he led the country early in the year in the 200 breaststroke, and wound up placing 4th at NCAA’s in the 200 breaststroke and 14th in the 100 breaststroke. McKee was one of two freshmen (the other was Texas’ Will Licon) to score in the 200 breaststroke at NCAA’s, and was the only one to finish in the A-Final.
He also swam on Alabama’s 7th-place 200 medley relay and 8th-place 400 medley relay at NCAA’s.
The Alabama coaching staff is confident in the depth of their breaststroke group being able to hold them over until McKee returns. They had another freshman breaststroker qualify for NCAA’s last year – Pavel Romanov, who was 17th in the 100 (53.65) and 22nd in the 200 breaststroke (1:55.38).
Look out for Alec Scott of Alabama, real swell guy, real swell athlete
Speedy recovery Anton! RTR