A longtime teacher and youth swimming coach in the Kearney community, Becky O'Connell was named Nebraska-Kearney's head coach in July 2018.
She is the sixth head coach in the program's nearly 60-year history.
"I am thrilled and honored to announce that Becky O'Connell has been named the new head coach for the UNK Women's Swimming and Diving Team. Anyone who knows swimming in Nebraska knows Coach O'Connell," said Interim UNK Athletic Director Marc Bauer. "Aside from Becky's wealth of coaching experience, she is an accomplished classroom teacher who understands and values the pursuit of academic achievement and the commitment it takes to balance the demands of being a student-athlete."
O'Connell was a third grade teacher at Windy Hills Elementary for 36 years. Holding an undergraduate degree from UNL in teaching and a Mater's Guidance and Counseling from UNK, she was head swimming and diving coach at Kearney High School for 16 years. Over 25 of her student-athletes went on to compete at the varsity college level with many others taking part in college club swim teams.
"I'm excited to become a part of the Loper family. Swimming and diving in Kearney has been a passion of mine for a long time. I cannot think of a better way for me to share my love of the sport with the community than to help athletes achieve their goals through Loper Swimming and Diving," said O'Connell.
During the 2018-19 season the Aqualopers cracked the schools' all-time top 10 list in 10 different events. That included freshman Claire Nash setting a new school mark in the 100 free (53.91) and junior Mikara Feit having the second best effort in the 100 backstroke (1:10.75) by an Aqualoper.
UNK won four duals during the year, finished runner up at the Kohawk Invite in Iowa and tallied 142 points at the 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championships. Outside of the pool, UNK had a 3.59 cumulative grade point average in the fall and was honored by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) for strong academic work.
The Aqualopers were again honored by the CSCAA for classroom efforts during the 2019-20 season. UNK tallied 145 points at the RMAC Championships, held that winter at altitude in Grand Junction, Colo. The team set four new school relay records at the meet as well as four individual marks. The Aqualopers cracked the all-time top 10 16 times during the season.
For 20 years O'Connell has been involved with the Greater Nebraska Swim Team (GNST), serving as head coach of the Kearney squad and being an assistant at major events like Sectionals and the Omaha Cup. This allowed her to work with, and be on deck with, elite swimmers and pre-Olympians.
"Becky is passionate about swimming and diving and will bring a high level of energy and commitment to increasing our team's level of competitiveness. She is eager to grow the program by increasing the roster size and developing both the swimming and diving disciplines," said Bauer.
