Courtesy: Southern Virginia Athletics
BUENA VISTA, Va.—Southern Virginia University Vice President and Director of Athletics Jason Lamb today announced the hire of Jennifer Moore as the University’s first head men’s and women’s swimming coach.
Southern Virginia University announced the addition of swimming to its 23 athletic programs in April, providing student-athletes another opportunity to play a sport they love while pursuing an education. While Southern Virginia does not have a swimming pool on campus, the team’s practices will be held 12 minutes away in the neighboring town of Lexington, Virginia.
Jennifer Moore will lead the Knights in their inaugural season, drawing from her two decades of successful coaching and her experiences as a former championship-winning Division I athlete.
“Jennifer will immediately make an impact for our swimming program,” said Lamb. “Swimming has been close to Jennifer since her time at BYU where she competed at a high-level. She is connected to our recruiting regions and will bring instant success to our program. We are fortunate to have somebody with her background and expertise for our swimming programs.”
Moore most recently coached for one of Utah’s premier USA Swimming clubs, Utah Valley Aquatics, where she served as an assistant coach and worked with the club’s top athletes, including national and junior-national qualifiers. She previously has coached Hilltop Official Masters Elite (HOME), Hilltop Aquatic Swim Team (HAST), Dimple Dell Fitness Center, PQAC Rancho Pensasquitos Aquatic Club, Springville High School and the Springville Seals Aquatics Team.
“I am thrilled at the opportunity,” said Moore. “Teaching swimming is one of my greatest joys. Being able to merge the two together as a head coach and begin new swimming programs is a chance of a lifetime. This opens doors for more swimmers everywhere to participate at the collegiate level.”
Moore graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in health education and physical education coaching. She also completed the course work for a master’s degree in coaching from the United States Sports Academy.
Prior to coaching, Moore swam for BYU from 1990-94 while serving as the team’s captain 1992-94 and helping lead the Cougars to several Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championships.
After her collegiate swimming career, Moore served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Spain.
“My faith is central to all that I do,” said Moore. “We offer a faith-based experience for student-athletes. I hope to cultivate this environment for our program in our first season. In terms of competition, I look to bring experience perfecting stroke techniques and mechanics. I want to build strong training cycles and make fast swimmers faster. We will develop our swimmers’ mental game, allowing us to overcome obstacles and break through barriers.”
Swimming is classified as an NCAA DIII winter sport — seasons begin as early as late October and run through mid-February. The new men’s and women’s teams will compete immediately in the 2019 season as members of the Capital Athletic Conference, joining Mary Washington, York (Pa.), Salisbury and St. Mary’s (Md.).
