John Hargis Announces 3 Additions to New Coaching Staff at Pitt

Below is a press release courtesy Pitt Athletics.

PITTSBURGH – Head coach John Hargis announced additions to his staff Tuesday afternoon as Sarah Dunleavy, Marc Christian and James Smith join the Panther operation.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to welcome these guys to the Pitt family,” said Hargis. “Our student-athletes are extremely lucky to have them on board.”

Dunleavy is set to work with the middle distance and individual medley swimmers, Christian will coach the sprinters, and Smith will assist with the distance group.

Dunleavy spent the past two seasons as the assistant swim coach and women’s recruiting coordinator at the University of Kentucky. In her tenure with the Wildcats she worked with 13 NCAA All-Americans, and coached athletes who broke 16 of the 20 women’s school records. Additionally, she worked with 15 2016 Olympic trail qualifiers and helped guide the first SEC Champions from Kentucky in 16 years.

Dunleavy conducted workouts for NCAA champion Danielle Galyer and two USA National team members. She also served as women’s recruiting coordinator and assisted with all academic aspects of the women’s program.

Prior to her time in Lexington, Dunleavy was an assistant coach at Illinois State University during the 2012-13 campaign.  She helped elevate ISU to new heights, as the Redbirds broke 15 school records and two conference records during her year there.

A 2012 graduate of Purdue University, Dunleavy was a team captain and a three-time All-Big Ten Academic honoree for the Boilermakers. Additionally, she was the recipient of the academic department’s John Wooden Leadership Award and the team’s Cathy Wright-Eger Educational Excellence Award.

“Sarah is one of the top female coaches in the country,” said Hargis. “Her reputation as a recruiter and track record as a coach are phenomenal. Pitt and myself are lucky to have her.”

The Bethel Park, Pa. native competed at various national-level meets during her high school career and was a 15-time Pennsylvania All-America. In 2012, Dunleavy was inducted into the Bethel Park High School Hall of Fame.

For the past five seasons, Christian has been an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked with both the men’s and women’s programs.

Christian helped guide the Quakers to one of their most historic seasons in 2015-16, fueled by a program-high six Ivy League titles. The men’s squad tallied the most points in school history (1213.5) at the conference championships. In addition, Chris Swanson swept the Ivy distance events for the second-straight season. Just one month later, he became Penn swimming’s first-ever NCAA National Champion (1,650 free). In one of the tightest NCAA finishes ever, Swanson closed his final 50 yards in just 24.38 to defeat South Carolina’s Akaram Mahmoud by .12 of a second. He became the Ivy League’s first NCAA Champion since 1990.

Before going to Penn, Christian served as a graduate assistant swim coach at the University of Delaware. As a member of the Blue Hens staff, he helped coach 25 CAA All-Conference swimmers, four CAA Champions, seven NCAA “B” provisional qualifiers. Nine team records and one CAA record were also broken during his time at Delaware

Christian enjoyed a successful four-year career at Kenyon College. He was a three-time NCAA National Qualifier and nine-time All-America honoree. Christian was also member of three NCAA Championship teams and captured five NCAA relay titles. During his senior year, he placed eighth at the NCAA Championships in the 50 frees. Additionally, he swam on NCAA champion 200 and 400 free relay teams, which helped Kenyon win its 29th consecutive NCAA team championship.

A native of Rehoboth, Mass., Christian graduated from Kenyon College with degrees in political science and history and was president of the Student Athlete Association. He received his master’s degree in higher education from Penn in the summer of 2012 and is currently enrolled in the Ed.D program in High Education at Penn’s Graduate School of Education.

“When visiting with Marc over the phone, I could tell the excitement he had for the sport,” added Hargis. “He is an excitable and very driven young man. His outlook for Pitt and where he sees this program moving align well with the goals and philosophy of our program.”

Smith comes to the Panther staff after a year as the assistant swim coach at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. In Wilmington, he coached all of the specialty groups for both the men’s and women’s teams, primarily headlining the distance squad. He helped coach two conference finalists and a school record setter, in addition to helping with recruiting efforts.

Before joining the Wilmington staff, he served as both a volunteer and assistant coach with the University of Georgia. With the Bulldogs, he assisted the top-ranked women’s team and fifth-ranked men’s team in the country, lending assistance with both recruiting and coaching efforts.

He has also worked with the Athens Bulldog Swim Club, Swim Macon, the Mount de Sales Academy, Swim Macon Management, Inc., Haile Plantation Golf and Country Club and GATOR Swim Camp.

An accomplished swimmer in his four years at the University of Florida, Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science in May of 2010. In his time with the Gators he led the team to a second place finish at the SEC Championship and a fifth-place mark at the NCAA Championships. Individually, he competed in both the SEC Championships and NCAA Championships and was a four-time NCAA All-American, two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll honoree and competed in the 2008 Olympic Trials in the 50 and 100 free.

“Jos swam under one of the greatest coaches in the sport,” said Hargis. “He also worked alongside two of the all-time greats. The knowledge he brings to the deck every day is impressive.”