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03/14/2013
Duo to compete in Indianapolis Mar. 28-30.
03/05/2013
Utes stand in fifth.
03/04/2013
Utes move into fifth.
03/04/2013
03/03/2013
Utes in sixth after first day.
In his first season with the University of Utah swimming & diving program, James Winchester was appointed interim head swimming coach on Mar. 4, 2013.
Winchester, who also serve as the recruiting coordinator for Utah's women's team, arrives at Utah after serving as the Head Coach of Nu Wave Swim Club in New Orleans.
Under his tenure, Nu Wave grew by leaps and bounds, increasing the number of full-time members, improving its performance at the Louisiana state championships in both short-course and long-course levels that included a program-best second-place finish at 2012 Louisiana Short Course State Championships.
On an individual level, Nu Wave qualified swimmers for NCSA and USA Swimming Junior Nationals and had a swimmer named to the USA Swimming Academic All-American Team. Numerous swimmers were ranked in the top 100 for their age group in the US, with two swimmers ranking in the top 100 in the world. Swimmers from the club went on to compete in the ACC, Pac-12, SEC and Ivy League Championships as well as the NCAA Championships.
Between 2007-11, Winchester was an assistant coach at the University of New Orleans, before being elevated to head coach in 2010. At UNO, Winchester was a part of the staff that restarted the program that brought in an inaugural recruiting class that was ranked 18th in the nation by Collegeswimming.com, as well as coaching five national champions and numerous NCAA Division I Qualifiers. In the classroom, UNO's teams were consistently ranked as Academic All-American team with the men's team placing as high as eighth in the nation for GPA among NCAA Division I schools in 2008.
Winchester's first coaching experience at the collegiate level came at Drury University, in Springfield, Mo.,where he was groomed under Hall of Fame head coach Brian Reynolds. At Drury, Winchester worked with numerous All-Americans and NCAA champions, which culminated in winning the 2007 NCAA Division II national championship for both the men's and women's programs.
At the international level, Winchester has coached athletes who have participated in the previous three Olympic Games (Ismael Ortiz, Panama, Athens 2004, Roman Sludnov, Russia, Beijing 2008, London 2012,Eva Hannesdottir, Iceland, London 2012), as well as being a part of the Trinidad & Tobago National Team staff for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. In 2007, Sludnov was the European champion in the 100m breaststroke, and placed fifth at the 2008 Olympics in the 100m breaststroke. Prior to this, Sludnov was the former world record holder in the 100m Breaststroke, and was the first man to break the one-minute barrier.In addition, Winchester has worked with Kurtis McGillivary, a former top-10 world-ranked distance swimmer (800m freestyle, 1500m freestyle), as well as having swimmers participate in the FINA World Championships and Central Caribbean Games.
Winchester accepted his first coaching job in 2004 when he was named the head swimming coach for Scottsburg High School in Indiana.
Winchester has a fiancée, Jennifer, daughter Chloe, and dog Marley.
