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Swimming Prospective Student-Athlete Questionnaire
Meet the Coach
Jean-Paul Gowdy
Head Coach
Jean-Paul Gowdy begins his seventh season at the helm of the men's and women's swimming & diving programs. During his first six years, Gowdy helped lift Wheaton to new heights.
He pushed the women to at least nine wins each of the last five seasons, and the squad's third-place showing at each of the past two New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships was the best in program history. Last winter, the Lyons recorded a team finish at the NCAA Championship for the first time, and Gowdy was lauded as the NEWMAC's Women's Swimming Coach of the Year. He earned an American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Certificate of Excellence in 2007.
On the men's side, Gowdy has twice helped the Lyons finish as high as fourth place during the NEWMAC Championship while leading the squad to the school's victories mark on two occasions. In 2005, Wheaton had its first swimmer garner NCAA All-America honors at the national championship.
Gowdy came to Wheaton from Springfield College, where he served as a graduate assistant swim coach. At Springfield, Gowdy was responsible for coaching sprinters, coordinating the recruiting process, teaching undergraduate-level physical education courses and handling home meet management. During his time there, the Pride captured the women's conference championship for the third straight year in 2003.
In his 14 years of coaching competitive swimming, Gowdy has pursued endeavors with camps at national power Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, in the summers of 2000-08, and Stanford University in the summer of 2001. Additionally, he was the assistant coach at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, in 2000-01, age group coach at Green Mountain Aquatics in Middlebury, Vermont, from 1995-99 and swim lesson coordinator and teacher at Middlebury College from 1996-99.
An elite athlete in his own right, Gowdy earned USA Triathlon All-America honors in 2003 and 2005. He also trained with Canada's national swim team at the University of Calgary in 1999-2000 and competed at the Olympic trials, where he qualified for the semifinals in three events. At Middlebury, Gowdy was a national champion in the 400-yard individual medley, a 17-time NCAA All-America athlete and two-time MVP of the New England Conference.
Gowdy is a 1999 graduate of Middlebury, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics with minors in political science and history. In 2008, Gowdy completed work at Springfield on a master's degree in physical education with a specialization in advanced-level coaching.
The Gowdy File
Men's Team
| Year | Dual | Conf. | Highlight(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-04 | 5-5 | 5th | NCAA Championship - No Team Score |
| 2004-05 | 8-4 | 4th | NCAA Championship - 36th (14.5 Points) |
| 2005-06 | 11-3 | 4th | NCAA Championship - T-37th (13 Points) |
| 2006-07 | 5-11 | 7th | NCAA Championship - 29th (30 Points) |
| 2007-08 | 7-10 | 5th | -- |
| 2008-09 | 4-12 | 5th | -- |
| Totals | 40-45 | 6 Seasons |
Women's Team
| Year | Dual | Conf. | Highlight(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-04 | 5-7 | 5th | -- |
| 2004-05 | 10-4 | 4th | -- |
| 2005-06 | 12-4 | 4th | -- |
| 2006-07 | 14-4 | 4th | NCAA Championship - No Team Score |
| 2007-08 | 15-4 | 3rd | -- |
| 2008-09 | 9-6-1 | 3rd | NCAA Championship - T-48th (6 Points) |
| Totals | 65-29-1 | 6 Seasons |
Zach Hicks
Assistant Coach
Wheaton College Associate Director of Athletics John Sutyak '00 has announced the hiring of Zach Hicks '07 as the athletic department's coordinator for varsity sports and external relations, effective immediately. Among his many responsibilities, Hicks will join the department's senior management staff and serve as an assistant coach for the men's and women's swimming & diving programs.
"My experience as a student here was influential in so many ways, and much of what shaped my experience developed from my involvement as a student-athlete," said Hicks. "It feels great to return to campus in an administrative role, and I am equally excited to continue contributing to the work that occurs within the athletic department. I look forward to the challenges and successes that will come with the position and hope to provide a service that is both meaningful and supportive to members of the Wheaton community, staff and students alike."
Hicks will provide day-to-day assistance and leadership in the areas of athletic administration pertaining to enhancing the athletic department's role in the Lyons Athletic Club (LAC), event supervision, hosting of postseason championship events, compliance and the work-study budget. He is also slated to serve as a departmental representative on college-wide committees and work heavily with the golf outing that will support the LAC.
"We are extremely pleased to have Zach back on campus," said Sutyak. "His connection to the many different constituencies on campus he was involved with as a student will allow us to continue to collaborate with those departments in ways we haven't before. During his time at Wheaton, Zach was the epitome of what a student-athlete should be. We look forward to him being a positive role model for our student-athletes in his new position."
Since graduating with a degree in sociology, Hicks has been a college counselor with the Boston-based Bottom Line Organization, which he joined in September 2007. In his role, Hicks has provided academic, career, financial and personal counseling to high school and college students.
A four-year member of Wheaton's swimming & diving team, Hicks has been heavily involved in leadership roles in the sport. Between 2000 and 2007, he was an aquatics assistant at the YMCA in his hometown of Bath, Maine, where he served such capacities as assistant coach, swimming instructor, lifeguard and camp counselor. Hicks was also the waterfront director from May 2003 to August 2006 for the Brunswick, Maine's recreation department, where he supervised staff and networked with staffs at outside programs and facilities.
During his college days, Hicks was a three-year member of the Wheaton Athletic Mentors (WAMs), the campus' student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC), and served a term as president his senior year. Due to his work with the WAMs, Hicks was selected as a Division III regional and national representative, collaborating with other Division III student-athletes on legislation and compliance policies. He also earned the men's swimming & diving team's coaches award three times.
As the president of the Men of Color house from 2005-07, Hicks and his housemates helped organize campus events and mentor urban students seeking to continue their education into college. He worked as a student event coordinator in the Marshall Center for Intercultural Learning from 2003-06, was involved with the Wheaton Intercultural Board and, as a senior, earned the Caroline Cutler Metcalf Leadership Award, one of the highest athletics-related honors given out by the college.
Wheaton is a selective national liberal arts college with 1,550 students drawn from virtually every state and more than 69 countries. The college combines a traditional curriculum in the arts and sciences with an innovative emphasis on real-world experience - internships, jobs and volunteer service - to help students make the connection between theory and practice. Its students gain admission to the nation's most prestigious graduate programs and regularly win competitive academic awards such as the Rhodes, Marshall and Fulbright scholarships.
Katy Shoemaker
Diving Coach
A former standout diver at Trinity College in Connecticut, Katy Shoemaker provides competitive and coaching experience in her fourth season with Wheaton.
During the 2009 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships, one of Shoemaker's male divers qualified for the finals in both the one- and three-meter events, while a female Lyon made the three-meter final and set school records from both platforms.
For the past three years, Shoemaker has run High Flyers Diving, an AAU age-group program based at Wheaton. During the 2005-06 school year, she assisted divers at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut, and also taught age-group diving at Trinity.
A four-year member of the Bantams' swimming & diving team, Shoemaker set school records in the one-meter, six-dives category and in the three-meter, 11-dives discipline.
Shoemaker earned a bachelor's degree in sociology in May 2006 and is currently enrolled at New England Law in Boston.
This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 11/21/09.
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