…The University of Utah, now a member of the Pac-12 Conference, has hired two new assistants in James Winchester and Mason Norman. Winchester, who moves in as the recruiting coordinator, was formerly the head coach of the Nu Wave swim club in Louisiana. The program finished 2nd at Louisiana’s Short Course State Championship meet in the spring, and he also worked with several Junior National qualifiers. His previous college experience came at the University of New Orleans, where he helped restart a once-cancelled program, and spent the 2010-2011 season as the head coach. He also had a stop at Drury. Norman comes from an interim position at Tennessee ater a successful, All-American career with Division II program Wingate…
…Speaking of Tennessee, Army has hired a replacement for Bret Lungard, who left to join the Volunteers. Jack Leavitt will be the new assistant for the Black Knights. He makes the jump from working with Crimson Aquatics in Boston, where he worked in an “opponents scouting” capacity for Harvard. He also spent two seasons with Division III powerhouse NYU…
…More Tennessee news – this morning in Knoxville, a line formed around the building in the wee-hours of the morning as fans waited to get a seat for the US Olympic Team’s open practice on the UT campus today. The Jones Aquatic Center literally filled out its 1,800 seat capacity just for a practice, which was followed by autographs and a media day. The above picture was posted on the USA Swimming facebook page this morning as proof…
…The Spanish Olympic Team kicked off their training camp today. Being situated so close geographically to the UK, they were able to stay close to home for their camp in Malaga. The squad includes distance superstar Mireia Belmonte, and they will remain in camp until the 19th. The Spaniards also released their own national team’s criteria for the 2013 World Championships, that they will host in Barcelona. Apparently, they are in no hurry to send a big squad to represent the home country, as they’ve promised spots only to those swimmers who achieve A-times. They have, however, left the door open with lots of “podras,” meaning “could”…
Way to go Knoxville! Kudos to the folks at UT for getting the word out and thanks to USA Swimming for supporting the idea! Awesome!