Mark Davin
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Click here to view and purchase Mark Davin
photos
Mark Davin returns in 2012-13 for his 17th season at the helm of the men’s and women’s swimming program. Throughout his tenure, Davin has been steadfast in his demand for excellence both in the water and in the classroom. His team has had a combined 115 individual and relay conference champions, while 134 student-athletes have been selected to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll since joining the conference in 2001-02. His emphasis on the development of the complete student-athlete has allowed his team to tally seven semesters of recording the highest team GPA of all NCAA Division I swimming and diving programs.
Another Strong Season
The 2011-12 season saw standout performances for both the
men’s and women’s swimming programs throughout the
campaign. The men's team finished in fifth place at the Patriot
League Championships with the women coming in seventh. Four
student-athletes were named All-Patriot League, and two others were
selected to the Academic All-Patriot League Team. Freshman diver
Melissa Parker was also honored as the ECAC Female Diver of the
Meet. Additionally, in the classroom, Davin led the Eagles to CSCAA
Scholar All-America Honors for the 32nd straight semester.
Past Success
Davin took over a budding American University swimming and diving
program in the fall of 1995 when it was still a member of the
Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Over the next six seasons
Davin coached six CAA Swimmers of the Year, five CAA Outstanding
Meet Performers and three CAA Rookies of the Year. He led the 2001
men’s team to a first-place finish in the CAA Championship
meet while the men’s and women’s teams together broke
six CAA records, earned 20 individual CAA Championship titles, and
boasted five NCAA provisional qualifiers. During that same season,
the men’s squad finished a perfect 7-0. For this, as well as
the previous year’s success, Davin was awarded the men's 2000
and 2001 CAA Coach of the Year Awards.
After American joined the Patriot League in 2001-02, Davin continued to build a program based on athletic and academic success. In its first year of PL competition, he was awarded with the 2002 Patriot League Men’s Coach of the Year award for leading the men’s team to a second-place finish at the Patriot League Championships, which included seven new Patriot League records and two Academic All-Americans. In that same year, American swimming and diving had 21 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll selections, nine All-Patriot League selections, both Patriot League Scholar Athletes of the Year, and the highest team GPA of all men’s NCAA Division I swimming and diving programs.
Throughout his tenure in both the CAA and the PL, Davin has coached a number of noteable AU swimming alumni:
In 2009, Davin coached Dory Isaacs to a 100 breastroke conference title with a school-record time of 1:01.23. She also went on to win an Eastern College Athletic Conference championship title in the same event, while setting the meet record with a 1:02.15. Isaacs was an NCAA National Championship “B” qualifier and a USA Short Course Swimming National Championship qualifier.
In 2010, Davin led Matt Pelletier to a conference title in the 100 backstroke (49.61), while also guiding him to the school record in both the 50 free (20.49) and 100 back (48.89). Pelletier finished his career by earning three other spots on the program’s all-time top-10 list, and garnering three All-Patriot League honors (First Team in 2010, and Second Team in 2008 and 2009). He also was a three-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll nominee, and holds two Reeves Aquatic Center pool records (200 freestyle relay, 200 medley relay).
From 2004-08, Davin coached Meghan Thiel, a seven-time individual Patriot League champion. During her career at AU, Thiel was a four-time All-Patriot League First Team selection, three-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll nominee, and a two-time Patriot League Swimmer of the Year. She was also the 2005 Patriot League Rookie of the Year and the 2006 Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Under Davin’s guidance, Thiel qualified for the NCAA National Championships in 2005 and 2006, as well as the Olympic Trials in 2004. The fastest female distance swimmer in program history, she currently holds the school record in the 200 free, 500 free, 1000 free, and 1650 free.
Davin worked with Ethan Bassett from 2000 through 2004. In his career, Bassett garnered 13 individual and relay conference victories, four Academic All-American selections, and three All-Patriot League nominations. He was also a three-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll selection, a 2002 Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the 2001 CAA Rookie of the Year. Davin trained Bassett through the 2000 Olympic trials, and also led him to a seventh-place finish in the 200 breast at the 2004 Olympic Trials. He earned NCAA national qualifying times twice in the 200 breast (2003, 04) and once in the 500 freestyle (2004). Davin also guided Bassett to seven top-10 program rankings, as well as a Reeves Aquatic Center pool record in the 200 breaststroke.
From 1999 through 2004, Davin guided Mark Liscinsky, one of the most decorated male swimmers in recent program history. In both the CAA and PL, Liscinsky was a 22-time individual and relay conference champion, a two-time PL Swimmer of the Year, and a two-time All-Patriot League selection. He garnered two Patriot League Academic Honor Roll nominations, the 2000 CAA Rookie of the Year award, and was a 2002 Academic All-American selection. Davin guided Liscinsky through the 2000 and 2004 Olympic trials, as well as the 2003 NCAA National Championships in the 200 IM, 200 free, and 200 back. Liscinsky solidified his legacy with five Reeves Aquatic Center pool records, four school records, and eight other top-10 program rankings.
From 2000 through 2003, Davin coached Dominic Szabo, a 14-time individual and relay Patriot League champion, a 2003 All-American, and a 2002 All-Patriot League selection. Szabo was also a 2000 and 2004 Olympic trials qualifier in the 100 breast and 200 breast. In 2003, Davin led Szabo to San Antonio, Texas for the NCAA National Championships. There, Szabo finished eighth in the 100 breaststroke with a school-record time of 53.77.
Throughout his tenure at AU, Davin has also led numerous other American University athletes to simultaneous conference titles and the Olympic Trials qualifying swims, including Jessica Lidstrom (2004), Junkal Irigoien (2002), Steine Lindman (2002), Frank Byskov (2001), Will Maher (2001) and Rebecca Santos (2001).
Before American
Before coming to American, Davin spent four years as head coach of
the Fort Lauderdale Swim Team, which won the 1994 Summer Nationals,
the 1994 U.S. Open and the 1995 Spring Senior Nationals. His
collegiate coaching career began at California-Berkeley where he
was the assistant for a men’s team that won back-to-back NCAA
titles in 1979 and 1980. From there, Davin took the assistant reins
for the women’s team at Arizona State, bringing home a
fourth-place finish at the Collegiate Nationals during the 1980-81
season.
From 1981-90, Davin coached the Swim Devils throughout Arizona, during which time he guided 12 athletes to the Olympic Trials. He was the assistant men’s swimming coach at Pittsburgh from 1990-92 where he helped guide the Panthers to back-to-back Big East titles and top 25 national rankings.
The founder of the Arizona Swimming Coaches Association, Davin is a graduate of Florida State with a degree in behavioral psychology. He was a member of the Seminole team that captured a pair of National Independent Conference Championships.
Upon graduation, Davin was an assistant coach for the Narcoossee Swim Team in Tallahassee, Fla., before joining the Pleasant Hill Swim Club in Pleasant Hill, Calif.
A native of St. Petersburg, Fla., Davin currently resides in Maryland.
Mark Davin By The Numbers in his 16 Seasons at American
University
- 75% (209 out of 280) of the AU all-time top 10 list belong to Davin’s swimmers
- 32 straight semesters of both the men’s and women’s teams being chosen as a Scholar All-America Team from the College Swimming Coaches Athletic Association (CSCAA)
- 30 Academic All-Americans
- 21 school records are held by Davin’s swimmers
- 10 Olympic Trial qualifying swimmers
- 7 semesters ranked with the top team GPA in all Division I swimming and diving programs
- 3 Men’s Coach of the Year Honors (CAA in 2000 & 01, PL in 2002)
- 2 All-Americans (Roger Font 1996, Dominick Szabo 2003)
- 1 Olympian (Casey Leger swam the 50 free and 400 medley relay at the 1996 games)
Member of the Patriot League (2002-Present)
- 134 student-athletes recognized on the PL Academic Honor Roll
- 57 All-Patriot League selections
- 43 Individual conference champions
- 17 individual and relay Reeves Aquatic Center Pool Records
- 11 relay conference champions
- 5 PL Swimmers of the Year
- 5 PL Scholar-Athletes of the Year
- 5 Academic All-Patriot League selections (since awards began in 2011)
- 1 Patriot League Rookie of the Year (Meghan Thiel 2005)
Member of the Colonial Athletic Association
(1995-2001)
- 51 Individual CAA Conference Champions
- 10 Relay CAA Conference Champions
- 6 CAA Swimmers of the Year
- 4 CAA Rookies of the Year
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Beth O’Connor Baker returns to the Eagles’ coaching
staff for her 14th year in 2012-13. Baker’s work will again
focus primarily on technique in stroke, starts and turns where she
has proven her expertise with athletes of every discipline.
A 1983 graduate from the University of Virginia School of
Education, Baker was a 10-time All-American in butterfly and IM
events. She later went on to earn a Master’s degree in
exercise physiology, also from UVA. Since then, she has competed at
the highest level of age-group triathlon and masters swimming.
Eight years ago, Baker broke over 30 world and national masters
swimming records. She was ranked first in the world in over 15
events, was named one of 12 USMS Masters Swimmers of the Year. She
also garnered a spot in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in
the Crowd” column. Additionally, Baker has been elected to
UVA’s Swimming Hall of Fame and was named one of the top 50
swimmers of all-time in the ACC.
In addition to working at the collegiate level, Baker’s
specialization in this field has given her the opportunity to work
with all levels of USS athletes, including work with the National
Champion Curl Burke Swim Club. She also works with a number of
prominent masters and triathletes, including a NCAA Champion and
several age-group national record holders.
Baker lives in Arlington, Va., with her husband Tom, and her son,
Ryan.
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Click here to view and purchase Mark Liscinsky photos
The 2012-13 season will be the seventh year for former Eagle standout Mark Liscinsky as the head assistant and sprint coach on the American University swimming and diving staff. Liscinsky’s coaching philosophy has proven extremely successful over the past few seasons, as several sprinters continue to rise in the top-time rankings of program history.
Among those standout sprinters include senior freestyler Leah Breen. Coaching Breen since her freshman year, Liscinsky has helped her 50 freestyle rise from a 14th place finish at the Patriot League Championships to a top-eight finish in each of the past two years. Her 50 free broke a 17 year-old Reeves Aquatic Center pool record and ranks second fastest all-time in program history. Liscinsky also guided her to success in the 100 freestyle by helping her drop more than two seconds since her freshman year to rank third all-time in program history while finishing fourth at the 2011 conference championships. Furthermore, her anchoring leg of the 2011 Patriot League Championships runner-up 200 medley relay was the fastest women’s 50 freestyle swim of the entire meet. Breen earned All-Patriot League honors in 2012.
Another standout swimmer who thrived under Liscinsky’s leadership was Dory Isaacs, the current school record holder in the 50 free and 100 free. Working with her throughout her career, Liscinsky guided Isaacs to two top-three conference finishes in both the 50 free and 100 free.
Liscinsky has also coached exceptional male sprinters, including the current school record holder in the 50 freestyle, Matt Pelletier. Winning the consolation final of the 50 freestyle at the 2009 conference championships, Pelletier swam the fourth-fastest race of the evening to finish with a 20.49. Former AU sprinter Sean McNamara peaked at George Mason’s 2010 Patriot Invitational, where he placed first in the 100 free, while finishing second in both the 50 free and 200 free. His swims earned him seventh, ninth and seventh place, respectively, on the AU all-time top 10 list.
Additionally, Liscinsky’s work with the IM’ers showed dividends as Isaacs reset the school record in the 200 IM, and teammate Kaitlin Moughty established a new program record in the 400 IM in 2007.
As a student-athlete at American, Liscinsky was both athletically and academically talented. He set AU and conference records in the 100 free, 100 back, 200 free, 200 back, and 200 IM during his days at American. In his senior year in 2003, he qualified for the NCAA National Championships in the 100 free, 200 free, 200 back, and 200 IM, while earning CSCAA Academic All-America honors.
As a freshman in 1999-2000, Liscinsky was named Rookie of the Meet, and in both his junior and senior seasons, was awarded the Most Outstanding Swimmer in the conference. He completed his career having set six AU program records including the 100 freestyle (44.61), 200 freestyle (1:36.75), 100 backstroke (49.87), 200 backstroke (1:45.85), 100 IM (short course meters) (57.72) and 200 IM (1:47.20). Additionally, Liscinsky is ranked in the all-time top-ten list in the 50 free, 100 breast, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 IM and 500 free.
Liscinsky was also a multiple finalist at the U.S. Senior Nationals, a United States Masters Swimming world record holder, a member of the 2003 U.S. World University Games team that competed in Korea, and was a 2000, 2004, and 2008 US Olympic Trials qualifier. In addition to coaching at AU, Liscinsky is in his sixth year as the head coach at the Washington Golf and Country Club. He has also coached with both the Curl Burke Swim Club and the Arlington Aquatic Club.
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John Barry, beginning his fifth year as American University’s diving coach in 2012-13, has continued the program’s success.
His AU career has been highlighted by four-year diver Kelsey Monarch, who posted three top-10 conference finishes and two other top-16 finishes between the one and three meter diving competitions between 2008-11. Monarch also has the fifth-highest one meter diving score in program history, and is ranked 10th in the three meter in program history. On the men’s side, James Fleming is ranked eighth in program history in the one meter and 10th in the three meter, and was honored on the 2011 inaugural Academic All-Patriot League Team.
In the 2011-12 campaign, freshman Melissa Parker took the diving program to a new level, earning ECAC Female Diver of the Meet honors.
Barry’s diving career began in 1970 at the age of seven. During his youth, Barry competed in the Northern Virginia Swimming and Diving League, one of the largest leagues in the country. Throughout his decorated career, he won numerous dual, relay, and divisional titles. In the mid 1980’s, Barry performed in professional diving exhibitions up and down the East Coast from Maryland up to Canada. Barry’s travels as a competitive diver allowed him to absorb the finer points of diving and coaching while working alongside some of the great competitive and acrobatic divers of the day.
Aside from his work at AU, Barry coaches several divers competing at the national level under Dominion Dive Club, a U.S. diving team in Fairfax, Va. He also leads a program in the winter, intended to keep interested young divers in the pool during the colder months. During the summer, Barry draws over 70 young divers to his program at Overlee Swim Club. He also coaches at an Arlington Public Middle and High School, where his son and daughter now compete.
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2006-07: Named team captain and First Team All-PL ... recorded her third-straight 1650 free conference championship with a time of 16:45.10, beating her competitors by nearly 20 seconds ... also won her third consecutive 500 free championship in a time of 4:49.52 ... swam a 200 free school record of 1:50.81 at the PL Championships to place second ... was a member of the 400 and 800 free relay teams that recorded season best times at the PL Championships ... broke the school record in the 1650 free with a time of 16:36.52 at the Princeton Invitational. 2005-06: Patriot League Female Swimmer of the Year ... Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year ... became the school's first female swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Championships since 1994, meeting the standard in the 500 and 1650 free ... won the 200, 500 and 1650 free at the PL Championships, each setting a new meet record ... finished in the top 40 in both the 500 and 1650 free at the NCAA Championships ... set new school records in the 200, 500, 1000 and 1650 free ... was a member of two winning relay teams at the Potomac Relays, notching the best split time (1:52.94) of the 800 free team (7:52.85) and helped the 1000 free team to a new meet record of 10:19.69 ... posted wins in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 1650 free at the GWU and Catholic Meet. 2004-05: Named the Patriot League Championships Female Co-Swimmer of the Meet ... broke the pool, meet, and AU record in the 1650 free with a time of 16:45.70 ... also set a new PL mark in the 500 free, earning an NCAA "B" time ... swam a new pool record in the 200 free ... finished 36th in the 1500 free at the US Conoco Phillips Nationals. High School: Three-year member of the varsity swimming team ... earned All-MET honors ... was a Scholastic All-American ... qualified for the US Olympic trials in 2000 and 2004 in the 400 and 800 free. Personal: Daughter of Kurt and Patricia... has one brother, Konrad, who swam for the University of Utah ... majoring in language and area studies.
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2005-06: Broke the meet record at Potomac
Relays with a 300 butterfly in 51.2 split ... placed 2nd at GWU and
Catholic meet with a 2:00.83 in the 200 IM and earned a 1st place
in the 200 fly ... 2004-05: Earned All-PL Second
Team honors ... finished 6th in the PL 200 fly in 1:52.83, the
sixth fastest time in school history. 2003-04:
Finished first in 200 fly with a time of 1:56.34 against Lehigh ...
finished first as a part of a relay team in the 500 free relay with
a time of 4:13.68 against Georgetown ... member of three
second-place relay teams, finishing with times of 3:09.91 and
3:15.04 in the 400 free relay against Army and UMBC and in the 200
free relay against Georgetown (1:28.10). 2002-03:
Qualified for the Spanish Nationals in the 100 and 200 free ...
helped the 800 free relay to a 1st place finish at the Patriot
League Championship Meet in meet and pool record time (6:46.58) ...
member of 200 free relay that took 3rd at the Patriot League
Championships (1:23.11) ... took second in the 50 yard free against
UMBC (22.52). Before American:Was a finalist at
the Junior Nationals ... named Basque County Champion.
Personal:Born on March 28, 1984 ... son of Joseba
Salgado and Elisabeth Agirreazaldegi ... has one brother, Alex ...
plans to major in computer science and information systems.
