UNLV Hires Mikaela Macklin, Former Mountain West Swimmer of the Year, as New Assistant

UNLV has hired Mikaela Macklin, a former Mountain West Conference Swimmer of the Year, as their new assistant coach.

Macklin just graduated from San Diego State earlier this year, and quickly jumped into the coaching ranks. She was named the 2013 MWC Swimmer of the Year after winning conference titles in the 200 breaststroke, 200 IM, and 400 IM.

From competitor to coach, the UNLV men (but not women) compete in the same conference in which Macklin starred for four years. UNLV will not face San Diego State in the regular season this year, nor did they last year. In the 2012-2013 season, though, an early year match-up saw Macklin win the 200 fly, 200 breast, and 200 IM as SDSU rolled through the Rebels. The final score showed only a three-point margin, but San Diego State exhibitioned four of the meet’s 16 events.

Now, she’ll flip around and hope to bring the UNLV women some of that same success. UNLV graduated their two women’s NCAA qualifiers from last year’s team, Katelyn Herrington and Rachel Dixon. The men’s team, however, returns most of their NCAA squad that finished 19th – including All-American sprinter Dillon Virva, who was a 19.19 in-season.

They return three of the four legs of their 15th-place 400 medley relay last year, and all three of those returning legs will be just juniors. The one leg they will have to replace is the breaststroke leg – but there they bring in German swimmer Yannick Lindenberg, who has been an impressive 1:01.7 in the long course 100 breaststroke already.

The spot that Macklin was hired for was opened up when assistant Lisa Childers left the program after last season.

UNLV’s 2014-2015 schedule is below:

2014-2015 SCHEDULE
Date Opponent / Event Location Time / Result
10/24/14 vs. 35th Annual Alumni Meet Las Vegas 11:00 AM PT
11/01/14 vs. Arizona Las Vegas 2:00 PM PT
vs. Utah Las Vegas 2:00 PM PT
11/07/14 vs. Denver Las Vegas 4:00 PM PT
11/08/14 vs. BYU Las Vegas 12:00 PM PT
Mizzou Invitational
11/20/14 Day 1 (Mizzou Invite.) Columbia, Mo. All Day
11/21/14 Day 2 (Mizzou Invite.) Columbia, Mo. All Day
11/22/14 Day 3 (Mizzou Invite.) Columbia, Mo. All Day
Arizona Diving Invitational
11/21/14 Day 1 (Arizona Diving Invite.) Tucson, Ariz. All Day
11/22/14 Day 2 (Arizona Diving Invite.) Tucson, Ariz. All Day
11/23/14 Day 3 (Arizona Diving Invite.) Tucson, Ariz. All Day
12/06/14 vs. Arizona State Las Vegas 12:00 PM PT
UNLV Winter Invitational
12/13/14 Day 1 (UNLV Winter Invite.) Las Vegas All Day
12/14/14 Day 2 (UNLV Winter Invite.) Las Vegas All Day
12/15/14 Day 3 (UNLV Winter Invite.) Las Vegas All Day
01/06/15 at CSU Bakersfield Bakersfield, Calif. 1:00 PM PT
01/17/15 vs. UC Santa Barbara Las Vegas 11:00 AM PT
01/24/15 vs. Air Force Las Vegas 12:00 PM PT
Air Force Diving Invitational
01/30/15 Day 1 (Air Force Diving Invite.) Colorado Springs, Colo. All Day
01/31/15 Day 2 (Air Force Diving Invite.) Colorado Springs, Colo. All Day
02/01/15 Day 3 (Air Force Diving Invite.) Colorado Springs, Colo. All Day
01/31/15 vs. Wyoming Las Vegas 12:00 PM PT
Mountain West Championships
02/18/15 Day 1 (Mountain West Champ.) San Antonio, Texas All Day
02/19/15 Day 2 (Mountain West Champ.) San Antonio, Texas All Day
02/20/15 Day 3 (Mountain West Champ.) San Antonio, Texas All Day
02/21/15 Day 4 (Mountain West Champ.) San Antonio, Texas All Day
WAC Championships
02/25/15 Day 1 (WAC Champ.) San Antonio, Texas All Day
02/26/15 Day 2 (WAC Champ.) San Antonio, Texas All Day
02/27/15 Day 3 (WAC Champ.) San Antonio, Texas All Day
02/28/15 Day 4 (WAC Champ.) San Antonio, Texas All Day
03/01/15 vs. Women’s Last Chance Meet Austin, Texas All Day
NCAA Diving Regionals
03/05/15 Day 1 (NCAA Diving Reg.) TBA All Day
03/06/15 Day 2 (NCAA Diving Reg.) TBA All Day
03/07/15 Day 3 (NCAA Diving Reg.) TBA All Day
03/08/15 vs. Men’s Last Chance Meet Seattle, Wash. All Day
NCAA Women’s Championships
03/19/15 Day 1 (NCAA Women’s Champ.) Greensboro, N.C. All Day
03/20/15 Day 2 (NCAA Women’s Champ.) Greensboro, N.C. All Day
03/21/15 Day 3 (NCAA Women’s Champ.) Greensboro, N.C. All Day
NCAA Men’s Championships
03/26/15 Day 1 (NCAA Men’s Champ.) Iowa City, Iowa All Day
03/27/15 Day 2 (NCAA Men’s Champ.) Iowa City, Iowa All Day
03/28/15 Day 3 (NCAA Men’s Champ.) Iowa City, Iowa All Day

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Rebel Coached
10 years ago

Strange comment, Swim. Everyone starts somewhere! This was posted as an entry level job. She was smart to accept a position on this much improved program. GO Rebels!!

Butterfly is hard
10 years ago

Unfortunately, having to have one female on staff typically leads to situations like this. I’m not saying Mikaela doesn’t deserve the job, she may have been the best fit. But in a lot of situations, female coaches can get hired with less experience than male coaches because there needs to be a female on staff.

Swim
10 years ago

Someone with little to no experience gets the job.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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