Competitor Coach of the Month: Josh Christensen

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.

Indiana State head coach Josh Christensen led the Sycamore women to the first Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) championship in program history over the weekend, earning him Competitor Coach of the Month honors.

Trailing by 10 points heading into the final day, Indiana State had wins from Claire Parsons in the 1650 free, Jecza Lopez in the 3-meter diving event, and then they capped it off as Chloe Farro, Kaleigh Kelley, Sahara Visscher and Alexa Szadorski came together to win the 400 free relay aieg a new school record.

Indiana State finished with 1440.5 points to comfortably outpace runner-up SIU (1331), while eight-time defending champion Missouri State was a distant 3rd (1034 points).

In 2024, Indiana State placed 2nd to Missouri State.

Christensen, who is in his seventh season as head coach of the Sycamores, has consistently been leading the team to new heights throughout his tenure, which in 2023, was their first-ever runner-up finish at the conference meet before taking the final step and winning the title this year.

“When nothing seems to help I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two and I know it was not that blow that did it but all that had come before” pic.twitter.com/KKqxhoxrbv

— Josh Christensen (@IndStSwimCoach) March 2, 2025

Indiana State rewrote the school record books en route to the title, including doing so in all five relays. They also had records set by Parsons, Lopez, Farro, Visscher, Alexandria Cotter and Ali Pearson.

New School Records Set At MVC Championships:

• 100 free – Chloe Farro, 49.69
• 200 free – Claire Parsons, 1:47.83
• 50 back – Sahara Visscher, 25.46
• 100 breast – Ali Pearson, 1:01.34
• 400 IM – Alexandria Cotter, 4:17.87
• 1-meter diving – Jecza Lopez, 305.35
• 200 free relay, 1:30.81
• 400 free relay, 3:18.99
• 800 free relay, 7:14.74
• 200 medley relay, 1:39.49
• 400 medley relay, 3:38.90

The team had six conference championship victories over the course of the meet, with Parsons winning the 200 and 1650 free, Lopez winning the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, and Cotter topping the 400 IM. Indiana State then closed things out by winning the 400 free relay at the end of the meet.

3:18.99 – the Sycamores take the 400-yard Free Relay to close out the final event of #MVCSwimDive Championships#MarchOn pic.twitter.com/S1BLbWwgZi

— Indiana State Swimming & Diving (@IndStSwimDive) March 2, 2025

As a result of the Sycamores’ performance, Christensen was named MVC Swimming Coach of the Year, while Indiana State’s Teresa Hall earned co-Diving Coach of the Year honors as Lopez earned Diver of the Year accolades.

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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