Teams: Men's Swimming & Diving: Press Releases

Tuesday, March 2, 2004

MEGERLE NAMED NESCAC SWIMMING COACH OF THE YEAR AGAIN
Written by Julie Fox

MEDFORD -- Tufts University Men's Swimming Head Coach Don Megerle was honored as the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Coach of the Year for the 2003-2004 season this past weekend at the conference championship meet held at Bowdoin College.  After finishing the regular season with an 8-1 dual meet record, the Jumbos posted an excellent effort to finish in third place at the NESCAC meet February 27-29. Megerle was also recognized as NESCAC Coach of the Year last season.

The Jumbos are currently awaiting word on how many of their six provisional qualifiers for will make it to the NCAA Division III National Championship Meet at Principia College March 18-20.

Megerle's Jumbos broke three school records at the NESCAC Championships while placing at least one swimmer in the top eight in 20 out of 24 events.  The team's total of 1290 points was behind only Williams (1732.5) and Amherst (1407).  Sophomore Jonathan Godsey (Dallas, TX) finished 20th in individual scoring with 76 points, and is a national provisional qualifier in the 100 Backstroke (52.98 in his leg of the 400 Medley Relay).

Two relays were national provisional qualifiers for the Jumbos.  The 200 Freestyle Relay team of sophomore Brett Baker (Englewood, CO), senior Nick Ghoussaini (Frankfurt, Germany), and freshmen Sloan Harris (Ardsley, NY) and Mike Kinsella (Hinsdale, IL) finished in third place with a time of 1:24.27, breaking the old Tufts record of 1:25.24.  The 400 Freestyle Relay team also finished third en route to a provisional qualifying time, clocking in at 3:08.56.  Baker, Ghoussaini, Kinsella, and junior Rich Halpert (Acton, MA) swam the relay for the Jumbos.

Other provisional qualifiers for the Jumbos include junior Seth Baron (Dallas, TX) in the 200 Butterfly (school record 1:55.27), senior Tyler Duckworth (Burnsville, MN) in the 200 Breaststroke (2:08.98) and Kinsella in the 50 Freestyle (21.18 in his leg of the 200 Freestyle Relay). Junior Mike Rochette (Cumberland, RI) established a new Tufts record in the 50 Breaststroke with a time of 26.80 seconds for third place at NESCACs.

Coach Megerle is in the middle of his 33rd season at Tufts, accumulating a 243-83 dual meet record during that time.  He has been named New England Division III Coach of the Year five times and is very involved in college swimming across the country. He serves as the Meet Coordinator for the Division I and III Men's Nationals and the Division III Women's Nationals.

Coach Megerle was the recipient of the Dick Steadman Award from the executive board of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) in 1991 and received the Paragon Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1999.  He also serves as the secretary of the CSCAA.

#