Competitor Coach of the Month: Jeremy Kipp, Northwestern

Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.

Northwestern’s women broke a school record and rattled two school relay records in their very first meet of 2019-2020, then followed it up with two dominant home wins.

Second-year head coach Jeremy Kipp has excelled in recruiting, and it has paid off in the pool. Star Australian sophomore Calypso Sheridan was an NCAA A finalist in the 400 IM last year, and currently leads the NCAA ranks by five seconds in that event. Sheridan won four individual events at the very-competitive SMU Classic in early October: the 400 IM (4:05.33), 100 back (52.85), 200 back (1:52.86) and 200 IM (1:56.57). The 200 IM and 200 back both rank #2 in the NCAA this season and the 100 back ranks 6th.

Northwestern also came surprisingly close to two school medley relay records at SMU. Sheridan, Hannah Brunzell, Miriam Guevara and Malorie Han were 3:35.47 in the 400 medley taking second at the SMU meet. Northwestern smashed a school record in that event last season, going 3:34.89 with Sheridan, Guevara and Han holding down the same legs as the SMU Classic. Prior to last year (and Kipp’s arrival), the Northwestern school record was just 3:37.99.

Same goes for the 200 medley, where the team went 1:37.69 last year to break the 1:38.44 school record. In their very first meet of 2019-2020, the Wildcats were 1:37.93, under the old school record and just tenths behind their seven-month-old school record.

Brunzell, the Swedish freshman, currently sits #2 in the NCAA in the 100 breast with her 1:00.06. She’s already the third-fastest in Northwestern school history. She won both breaststrokes at SMU, going 2:10.22 in the 200 for the #3 spot in school history, and her 2:00.81 in the 200 IM is 6th in school history.

Other October swims ranking in Northwestern’s all-time top 10s:

• UNC transfer Maddie Smith went 22.90 in the 50 free, which already sits 8th in school history.
• Senior Krystal Lara went a lifetime-best 1:46.77 in the 200 free. She’s 7th in the nation and moves up to 6th in school history.
• Sophomore Miriam Guevara hit a lifetime-best of 1:57.99 in the 200 back – she is now 10th in program history. She also went 1:59.10 in the 200 fly, her best collegiate swim in that event and 7th in Northwestern history. Guevara was second at SMU in the 100 fly, going a 53.02 that is faster than Northwestern’s pre-Kipp school record and only behind her own 52.20 school record in program history.

About Competitor Swim

Since 1960, Competitor Swim® has been the leader in the production of racing lanes and other swim products for competitions around the world. Competitor lane lines have been used in countless NCAA Championships, as well as 10 of the past 13 Olympic Games. Molded and assembled using U.S. – made components, Competitor lane lines are durable, easy to set up and are sold through distributors and dealers worldwide.

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