Washington State has hired former US National Teamer Kaersten Meitz as an assistant coach for its women’s swimming & diving team. She replaces Kate Moore, who returned closer to home to become an assistant coach at Duke in the offseason.
Meitz was a four-time CSCAA Division I All-American and four-time NCAA Championship qualifier while at Purdue. She was also a member of the US National Team from 2017 through 2019, won gold medals in the 400 free and 800 free relay at the 2019 World University Games, and made two finals at the 2021 US Olympic Team Trials.
She swam her last meet at the 2022 Phillips 66 National Championships, placing 9th in the 800 free.
In addition to training as a pro athlete, she spent almost five years as a marketing specialist with Barash Law LLC in Lafayette, Indiana, where she trained at Purdue, and the last 8 months working as a medical sales representative for Stryker in Milwaukee, near her hometown of Waukesha.
Meitz and Washington State head coach Matt Leach have an Indiana connection – while Meitz was swimming at Purdue, Leach was coaching at Indiana State.
Washington State is the lone swim program scheduled to remain in the Pac-12 (aka the Pac-2) in the 2024-2025 season. Last season, they finished 8th out of 8 teams at the Pac-12 Championship meet with 420 points. They were represented at the NCAA Championship meet by freshmen Emily Lundgren and Dori Hathazi. Lundgren placed 50th in the 100 breast, 55th in the 200 breast, while Hathazi finished 31st in the 200 fly.
Holy shoot big hire from WSU. their distance program about to go ham.
oh totally, with all of the coaching experience she has. But hey, it’s a female hire!