FAST Set To Host 2nd Annual Jon Urbanchek Invitational

Courtesy: Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST)

The 2nd annual Jon Urbanchek Invitational hosted by Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST) begins this Friday, June 14th and runs through Sunday, June 16th. The unique format features afternoon Prelims and morning Finals, and cash awards for the top three finishers in each event. Award amounts are doubled for the Jon Urbanchek Signature Event, the Men’s & Women’s 400-meter Freestyle. The Jon Urbanchek Performance Award will also be awarded to the Male and Female Finals performance with the highest World Aquatics point value.

In attendance this year will be Paris Olympians Tomer Frankel (Israel) and Rafeal Miroslaw (Germany) representing Indiana Swimming, Egyptian Olympian Marwan Elkamash from The Swim Team, along with Russian star Vanilissa Buinala from Trojan Swim Club. Among the local entries is a very strong 64-member squad from Irvine Novaquatics which includes top Indonesian swimmers Nicholas Subagyo and Farrel Tankas, along with rising stars Andrew Maksymowski, Peter Vu, and Alyssa Ton.

Coach Urbanchek started and ended his career in Southern California. Several of Urbanchek’s former students and athletes from the area will be competing, coaching, or volunteering at the meet this week. In addition, there will be a luncheon for coaches, officials, friends, and family on Saturday between sessions. FAST and Southern California Swimming (SCS) are honored to recognize Urbanchek’s legacy with this annual event in his home city of Fullerton.

For results, please view on Meet Mobile.

About Jon Urbanchek

After graduating from college, Urbanchek’s first job was as a health teacher and aquatics coach at Garden Grove High School in Southern California, in 1963−64. In the fall of 1964, he started teaching at Anaheim High School, where he coached highly successful teams in both water polo and swimming. Highlights at AHS included a third-place finish in CIF water polo in 1969 and a CIF team Finals appearance in boys swimming in 1970.Also in 1964, Urbanchek co-founded the Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST) in Fullerton, California.  In 1973, he earned a master’s degree in education from Chapman University.

Urbanchek left Anaheim High School in 1978 to become the head coach at Long Beach State where he coached the 49ers swim program for five years. In 1981, he was named Pacific Coast Athletic Association Coach of the Year. He also coached on the international level for the first time, guiding the United States to a second-place finish behind his native Hungary at the 1979 FINA Men’s Water Polo World Cup.

Urbanchek became the head coach at the University of Michigan in 1982, his alma mater. He was responsible for the renaissance of the men’s swimming program. Within four years they had won the Big Ten Championship and then continued to win another 9 in a row, establishing a “Decade of Dominance” for the program (1986-1996), during which time his team also won the NCAA Championship. In total, Urbanchek’s Michigan teams won 13 Big Ten Championships. After retiring from the head coach position, Urbanchek continued to coach for several years with the school’s affiliate club team, Club Wolverine, and to assist the men’s team.

Urbanchek returned to Southern California in 2010 to direct the U.S. Olympic Post-Graduate Training Center at Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST). He coached two swimmers to gold medals at the 2012 Olympics (Tyler Clary and Matt McLean) and served as special assistant coach for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team. For the next ten years, Jon continued to work with athletes and coaches throughout the country, leading and assisting with training camps at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and volunteering on decks throughout Southern California, doing what he loved.