Steffen, Schultz, Castlebergs receive Semana Nautica Awards

Clockwise from Top Right: Taylor Steffen, Paul Castleberg, Dani Castleberg, and Karen Schultz

The Semana Nautica Association is pleased to announce its 2019 festival awards recognizing outstanding performances at Santa Barbara’s 82nd summer sports festival held in July. 

Taylor Steffen and Dani Castleberg claimed Ocean Swimmer of the Year titles, while Karen Schultz was named Athlete of the Year and Paul Castleberg is being honored as the Jeff Farrell Award recipient.

Awards ceremonies are scheduled at upcoming Reef & Run events.  The Ocean Swimmers of the Year will be recognized on Thursday, August 15, and the Athlete of the Year and Jeff Farrell Award on August 22. 

Schultz, a previous winner of the Ocean Swimmer of the Year Point Series, bested the field in the 6-Mile Swim and the Reef & Run 1-Mile Swim. Overall, Schultz registered five top-6 finishes in swimming races over a two-week period.

Steffen, 20, becomes a two-time winner of the Ocean Swimmer of the Year having also earned the title in 2017.  Steffen won the challenging 6-mile race in his event debut, adding another victory in the Reef & Run 1-mile swim on July 11 and a second-place result in the Mullen & Henzell 1-Mile Swim.

Castleberg finished atop the ocean swimming point standings thanks to triumphing at the Mullen & Henzell 1-Mile race. Castleberg completed all five ocean-swimming races during Semana Nautica, never finishing lower than 5th.

The Semana Nautica Ocean Swimmer of the Year is determined by a points system based on the open-water swimming races during the festival. To qualify, competitors must swim in the Mullen & Henzell 1-Mile Swim, at least one of the two 1-mile races at Reef and Run, and either the Mullen & Henzell 3-mile race or 6-mile swim. Find a more detailed description of the

Paul Castleberg receives the Jeff Farrell Award for embodying the spirit of Semana Nautica. Castleberg contributed to the festival as an athlete, safety team volunteer, administrator, and race timer.  One of the most active festival participants, Castleberg swam in multiple ocean-swimming races and served as kayak escort for his daughter, Dani, on the 6-mile.