Courtesy: James Madison Athletics
HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison swimming and diving head coach Dane Pedersen welcomes Paige Conrad to the staff as an assistant coach, as announced on Monday afternoon.
“We’re really excited for Paige to be here,” Pedersen said. “In the search process, I emphasized that, in addition to finding the right coach, we needed to find the right person and Paige fulfills those boxes and so much more. I’m excited for her to start working with the team and the girls on an individual basis.”
Conrad comes to Harrisonburg from Illinois State University, where she worked with all the different swim groups during her three-year stint. She helped coach student-athletes to 17-plus individual school records and over 200 season-best times. Under her advising, 14 athletes were named to the all-conference team, while the team held an average 3.5 GPA.
“I’m very excited to be a part of the JMU swim & dive family,” Conrad said. “I’d like to thank Dane Pedersen for allowing me this opportunity. I can’t wait to get to know and work with the student-athletes and I can’t wait to get the season started. Go Dukes!”
Outside of the pool, Conrad’s responsibilities included coordinating recruiting, overseeing academic efforts for the student-athletes, coordinating travel, working with media, community service outreach and promoting and fundraising for the team.
Before her three years with the Redbirds, she was an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s swimming programs at Lewis University. Conrad served as strength and condition coach, recruiting coordinator, coordinated meals and travel, managed the team budget and managed team statistics in her time with Lewis.
Conrad graduated from the University of Idaho in 2014, with a bachelor’s of science in psychology, where she was a four-year swimmer for the Vandals. She competed in freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events and was a member of the 800 freestyle relay team.
Great pick-up for JMU!!