By JOHN MCGRORTY
The Cornell Swimming and Diving team has named Patrick Gallagher and Wes Newman as Associate Head Coaches for the program. Coming off a tremendous 2014-2014 racing campaign, Gallagher and Newman will look to bolster the squad’s success in the conference with their leadership and expertise.
Cornell enters this season confident in its skills and determined to top the heroics of last year, according to senior Bethany Douglas.
“We’re very excited for the upcoming season, coming off the last winning one. We have a lot of confidence going into pre-season, but also now know what we are capable of, so we are using this as fuel to only train harder,” Douglas said.
The Red believes that motivation and discipline in the pre-season are essential to starting off strong, Douglas added.
“We aren’t really looking at this next month as off-season. In order to ensure another winning season, we plan to stay hungry and competitive even in September,” she said. “We have a lot of confidence from last season’s wins but that won’t stop us from giving it our all in the weight room and the pool right now.”
The squad is excited to welcome the freshmen and believes the young talent will be a driving force in reaching the Red’s goals, according to senior Timothy Satterthwaite.
“The team is feeling great heading into the season,” Satterthwaite said. “The new batch of incoming freshmen have some incredible talent and we’re excited to see it put to the test.”
Senior Thomas Hallowell added, “I know the freshmen are anxious to get a glimpse of what being a Division I athlete is like. We had some success last year and are all hoping to continue that with good training in the off season.”
The leadership duo of Gallagher and Newman may be just what the program needs to climb its way back up the Ivy League.
Patrick Gallagher will coach the women’s team for his second season this year after making the transition from Saint Francis, where he had been coaching for ten years prior. He had a strong history of success there, earning the honor of most winningest coach in school history. Under his coaching, the squad won four league titles. Gallagher illustrated his ability to make a strong impact on the Red as well last season, leading the squad to a 6-3 overall record.
On the men’s side, Wes Newman will take on the role of Associate Head Coach after six years of serving on Coach Joe Lucia’s staff. Newman brings a tremendous amount of experience to the table, having swam at Cornell himself as an all-time great. He was a three-time Eastern champion and holder of nine school records as well as a Canadian Olympic Trials competitor.