Courtesy: McKendree Athletics
LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree Swim and Dive program just surpassed the 10-year mark and have seen so much success in the decade in Lebanon.
The program was started in the 2016-2017 season where then director of athletics Chuck Brueggemann announced the hiring of Jimmy Tierney to build the program. Coming from NCAA Division I and the Big Ten Conference swim and dive competition as the head coach at Northwestern for the past 21 years.
Brueggemann was quoted saying “Tierney is the perfect choice to form the foundation for the McKendree men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs” He also said “I believe McKendree will have an immediate impact in Great Lakes Valley Conference and NCAA Division II competition”
Competitive is right; over the past 10 years McKendree has been both competitive in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) and NCAA Division II competition in that stretch. In the GLVC conference competition, the Bearcats have had 136 GLVC champions, 39 conference records broken, and 39 Swimmer of the Week awards. They also received two swimmers of the year awards in Gregg Lichinsky (2020) and Fabio Dalu (2021). Dalu is also one of two athletes to win GLVC freshman of the year, winning the award back in 2020, the other being Vova Gavrysh in 2025. Andrea Menard-Cordoba is only diver of the year winning the award in 2024 for the Bearcats. So far, Coach Tierney has won two GLVC coaches of the year awards in 2018 and 2020. The team has all together won the James R. Spalding Team Sportsmanship six times in the last 10 years.
On the national level, the team has had an outstanding 375 All-Americans awarded and 133 College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-Americans. They have had 18 national champions and 15 runners-up. McKendree has broken six national records and still holds two in the 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly. In five of the past 10 years, the Bearcats have finished in the top four with the highest finish being a third-place finish in 2023 national championships. Dalu was also named the national swimmer of the year in 2021.
Way to go Jimmy! Never a doubt in my mind that you’d grow that program. Your hard work and enthusiasm for the people around you has paid off. Keep it up!!!
Lets go Bearcats!!⚜️