MADISON, N.J. (Sept. 18, 2014) – The Drew University swimming team and head coach Eric Scheingoltz announced today the addition of Mark Johnson ’01 as the program’s new assistant coach.
Johnson, a 2001 Drew University graduate and three-year letter winner for the Rangers swimming squad, brings over 25 years of experience in competitive club, high school and collegiate swimming.
“We are so excited to have Mark Johnson join us this year,” said Scheingoltz, entering his sixth season at the helm of the Rangers. “We are very fortunate to have someone on deck with his level of swimming and coaching experience. Also, to have Mark come full circle and be back at Drew is really special. It shows how much he loved his experiences here as a student and how much he wants to share that with our current team. Over the years there have been so many different coaches and generations of swim teams, and I really feel like having Mark back here connects the dots.”
Johnson was a standout on the Rangers’ 4×100 Freestyle Relay team that set a school record and showed great versatility in the pool by consistently recording fast times in the individual medley races. Johnson remains in the Top 15 in the Ranger Record Books in the 200IM with a time of 2:12 during the 1998 season. Since then, his love and passion for the sport has grown exponentially through a variety of coaching jobs since his last stop in the Forest.
“It’s exciting to be back on campus working with a new generation of Drew swimmers,” Johnson said. “Drew University and Rangers Swimming were a huge part of my life and I still carry with me many of the lessons I learned here as a student-athlete. Now I want to pass that on to the current Rangers during my time here.”
Johnson’s most recent coaching gig was as an assistant for the Princeton Piranhas, where he worked with elite national-caliber swimmers to refine strokes and techniques. Prior to the Piranhas, he was the head women’s swimming coach at The College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown for the 2012-13 season. Johnson utilized current stroke and training techniques to develop several swimmers into conference finalists, while stressing the importance of maintaining high academic standards and discipline.
The Drew grad began his professional career by serving as the Aquatics Director at the Westfield Area YMCA from 2003-05. His first coaching position came in 2005 when he accepted the head job at The Hardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison. During that time, Johnson also applied his Bachelor of Arts in history as a middle school history teacher at The Winston School in Short Hills.
Johnson is ASCA Level I certified as well owning certificates for lifeguard, CPR, AED, oxygen, CPO and first aid.
The above is a press release submitted by Drew University.