Donna Hodgert was named the men’s and women’s swimming coach at Ferrum College and will start her new position immediately.
Hodgert is replacing former head coach A.J Smith who stood as the interim head coach since the passing of coach Tom Calomeris this December.
Hodgert is very familiar with collegiate level swimming, having spent the last year as the Sweet Briar College head coach and aquatics director.
The Sweet Briar College shutdown this year leaving the division III team along with the entire university bidding a final farewell.
The closure left Hodgert looking for a new head coach position which she found at Ferrum College. Hodgert also has plenty of experience as an athletic director, physical education teacher, and cross-country coach.
Collegiately she was the head coach at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College from 1997-2008.
While coaching there she was named the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Swim Coach of the Year for her efforts in the 2003-2004 season. Hodgert bettered her team significantly, taking them from a position at the lower-end of the division towards as high as a third place ranking.
During that time the team earned multiple All-ODAC conference awards and grabbed four straight third-place finished at the ODAC championships. Two of her athletes even went on to be named ODAC swimmers of the year.
A former All-American, Hodgert is still very competitive in the water. In one of her most successful races, Hodgert was a U.S Masters national champion in the 200 fly back in 2012.
With Hodgert’s experience she’ll be looking to improve both the men’s and women’s teams. Last season, the men won only three dual meets. Those wins came against Greensboro College, Lagrange College, and Gallaudet University.
The women had a longer season and also only came up with three wins. Theirs came against Guilford College, Hollins University, and Lagrange College.