Miami Women’s Swimming and Diving Hires Mark Davis as Assistant Coach

OXFORD, Ohio, June 29. MIAMI University head women's swimming and diving coach Dave Jennings announced the hiring of Mark Davis as an assistant coach. A former head coach at Centerville High School and with the WTRC Sharks club team, Davis brings 20 years of coaching experience to the RedHawks' swimming and diving program.

"I am extremely excited to introduce Mark Davis as the new women's assistant swim coach at Miami University," Jennings said. "We are fortunate to welcome one of the most respected club coaches in the Midwest to our program. Mark has sent a number of swimmers to Miami, and they have all had great character and strong swimming fundamentals. I am equally impressed by Mark's stellar coaching record. He knows how to elevate athletes to the national and international level."

Serving as the head swimming and diving coach at Centerville High School since 1996, Davis boasts a wealth of success in the prep ranks. During his tenure, Davis guided the Elks to 12 conference championships and 12 sectional titles. With the women's team, Davis' squads won two Southwest District championships and finished as the district runner-up five times, each coming in the past seven seasons. In his finest season with the Elks, Davis led his women's squad to the 2004 Ohio Division I State Championship.

Centerville swimmers broke all but two school records under Davis' watch, and he mentored state champions, state record holders and numerous All-Americans and Academic All-Americans. With a previous connection to Miami, Davis coached former RedHawks' standout swimmer Katie Forster, who set three school records with the Red and White, including the 500 freestyle and 200 butterfly varsity records.

"Miami has a great facility and it is a great school that is committed to athletics," Davis said. "I followed Miami closely when Katie [Forster] was swimming here, and it was the one place I would leave Centerville for. I wasn't necessarily looking for a different job, but there are great things going on at Miami, and hopefully I can help the program take the next step."

Also a successful club coach, Davis worked as the head coach of the WTRC Sharks from 1992-2007. Helping the program grow from 30 to 200 swimmers, Davis mentored numerous U.S. Open Champions, sectional champions, junior national and senior national finalists and one Olympic Trials semifinalist. He primarily served as the coach of the Sharks' senior group, which is for all high-school aged swimmers. The Sharks have been recognized as a Silver Medal Club of Excellence by USA Swimming.

Prior to working at Centerville and with the WTRC Sharks, Davis served as the head age group coach at the Kettering YMCA from 1986-1992.

A native of St. Marys, Ohio, Davis earned his bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Dayton. He has earned his Level 4 coaching license from the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA).

Special thanks to Miami for contributing this report.

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