Utah Hires Pair of Assistants; James Winchester, Mason Norman

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 12. JAMES Winchester and Mason Norman will join the University of Utah swimming & diving coaching staff, Head Coach Greg Winslow announced.

“I could not be more excited to have both James and Mason join our staff,” Winslow said. “As we head into our second season in the Pac-12 Conference, these two coaches will bring enthusiasm and experience to our staff. James is a proven recruiter and an excellent coach and will make an immediate impact for the Utes. Mason brings passion and an amazing outlook on our sport to the program.”

James Winchester

Winchester, who will also serve as the recruiting coordinator for Utah's women's team, had been the head coach of the Nu Wave's club since April 2010, Under his tenure, Nu Wave grew by leaps and bounds, increasing the number of full-time members, improving its performance at the Louisiana State Championships in both short course and long course levels, including a program-best second-place finish at 2012 Short Course State Championships. The program had its highest finish in program history at Louisiana Regional U8 Championships: third in Spring of 2011 and second in summer of 2011 and 2012.

On an individual level, Nu Wave qualified swimmers for NCSA and USA Swimming Junior Nationals and had a swimmer named to the USA Swimming Academic All-American Team. Numerous swimmers ranked in the Top 100 for their age group in the US, while two swimmers ranked in the Top 100 in the World for their age. Swimmers from the club went on to compete in the SEC Championships and NCAA Division II National Championships.

Between 2007-11, Winchester was an assistant coach at the University of New Orleans, before being elevated to Head Coach in 2010. At UNO, Winchester was a part of the staff that restarted the program and brought in an inaugural recruiting class that was ranked 18th in the nation by Collegeswimming.com. In the classroom, UNO's teams were consistently ranked as Academic All-American team with the men's team placing as high as eighth in the nation for GPA among NCAA Division I schools in 2008.

Winchester's first coaching experience at the collegiate level came at Drury University, in Springfield, Mo., where he was groomed under Hall of Fame Head Coach Brian Reynolds and worked with several world-class swimmers like Kurtis MacGillivary, Ismael Ortiz and Roman Sludnov.

Winchester accepted his first coaching job in 2004 when he was named the Head Swimming Coach for Scottsburg High School in Indiana.

Winchester has a fianc?e, Jennifer, daughter Chloe, and dog Marley.

Mason Norman

Norman served as the interim assistant coach for the Tennessee men's swimming and diving program last season. A native of Duluth, Ga., Norman came to the Volunteers following a four-year collegiate career at Wingate from 2007-10.

Norman was a force in NCAA Division II competition, earning a total of 19 All-America honors on a team that finished as high as sixth in the country. As a senior, he led Wingate to its third consecutive conference title by winning three races.

He was part of Wingate's 400 freestyle relay championship team, and he named Wingate's Male Athlete of the Year in 2009.

Academically, Norman excelled there too. He earned his graduated with a magna cum laude distinction in Social Studies: Education at Wingate. While there, he was named ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic First Team All-America.

Norman trained at Tennessee's Allan Jones Aquatic Center in the summer of 2009 before his senior season and returned to Tennessee as a graduate student so he could continue training.

A sprint freestyler by trade, Norman competed in this summer's Olympic Trials in the 100-meter freestyle.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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