Rutgers women’s swimming & diving has hired program alumnus and two-time CSCAA All-American Casmera Wick as its new assistant coach. She replaces the program’s former assistant coach Kelsie Saxe, who served in that role for 2 years.
Wick has spent the last 8 seasons at Division I Villanova as the associate head swimming coach and aquatics coordinator. While there, the Villanova women won 7 consecutive Big East Championships and was part of the conference’s Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year 7 times.
Prior to Villanova, Wick spent a season at Pitt from 2011-2012, and 2 seasons at Division III program Swarthmore. In the 2009-2010 season, she was an associate head coach, while in the 2010-2011 season she was the interim head coach.
Wick also has a few club credentials to her name, working as co-head coach of Pitt Aquatics, an assistant for the Central Bucks Swim Team, and with the Hideaway Swim Team.
While Villanova and Rutgers are in different states, the two schools are only about 75 miles apart. A native of Longmont, Colorado, Wick has been a fixture in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey area since attending Rutgers as an undergrad.
Wick graduated from Rutgers in 2004 with a degree in Psychology, a minor in Sociology, and a certificate in Criminal Justice. While she was a student there, the school had both men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs, with the men’s team being cut 2 years after her graduation.
She was a two-time team captain at Rutgers, set school records in 8 different events, qualified for the NCAA Championships 3 times, and earned 2 All-America honors. At the 2002 NCAA Championships, she finished 15th individually in the 200 free and was also the fastest leg of Rutgers’ 16th-place 800 free relay.
The 2019-2020 season was Jon Maccoll‘s second full season as the program’s head coach after being promoted to the position mid-season during the 2017-2018 academic year. The Rutgers women finished 11th out of 13 teams at the Big Ten Championship meet. The school set 5 new Rutgers Records at those Big Ten Championships, which included new marks in the 100 free and 200 free from freshman Sofia Chichaikina.
The team’s freshman class (50 points) and sophomore class (91 points) were responsible for 91 of the team’s 97 individual points at the meet, showing an upward trajectory for the team.
Saxe left the role to pursue her PhD at the University of Tennessee, where she previously worked as a manager for the swimming & diving team and as a graduate teaching associate. Maccoll said that he was “sad to see her go,” adding that “our sport needs more leaders like her in the coaching ranks.”
The men’s team at Rutgers was cut after the 2006-2007 season which was three years after Wick’s graduation. The cut was announced in 2006, but the team was given one more season.
Congrats Casmera! It’s great to have an alumni back on the banks coaching!
I’m a big fan! Rutgers is fortunate to have you back on campus.
How’s that Taylor guitar? Still playing? BTW – My stapler still works well 😊