Reese named USA Swimming National Coach of the Year
Nov. 23, 2009
LOS ANGELES -- University of Texas head men's swimming and diving coach Eddie Reese was selected as the USA Swimming National Coach of the Year Sunday evening during the 2009 USA Swimming Foundation Golden Goggle Awards. Now in his 32nd year at Texas, Reese mentored Texas-Exes Aaron Peirsol and Garrett Weber-Gale, UT seniors Dave Walters and Ricky Berens and Longhorn Aquatics' Eric Shanteau on their quest for gold at the FINA World Championships in August. Peirsol set new world records in the 100m and 200m backstroke events at the USA Swimming National Championships in July before rewriting the 200m backstroke world mark once more on his way to gold in the event at the world championships. Peirsol later teamed up with Shanteau, Walters and Michael Phelps to win gold and set a new world record in the 400m medley relay in Rome. Berens and Walters won gold and helped the U.S. to a new world record in the 800 freestyle relay, and Berens joined Weber-Gale in the preliminary round of the 400m freestyle relay, an event seized by the Americans in the finals. Walters also secured a spot in his first individual final at an Olympic or world championship meet, as he took fifth in the 100m freestyle in an American record of 47.33 seconds. Shanteau, a former Auburn All-American who trains under Reese and UT assistant coach Kris Kubik, fell one one-hundredth of a second shy of a gold medal in the 200m breaststroke and claimed the silver medal in the event in Rome. He added a bronze medal in the 200m individual medley and took fourth in the 100m breaststroke. Reese has led the Longhorns to nine NCAA team titles, and his Texas teams have finished in the top-three in 24 of 31 NCAA Championship meets. Reese and the Horns resume competition on Thursday, Dec. 3 when they host the annual three-day Texas Invitational at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
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