PALO ALTO, California, October 26. DANA Kirk has joined head coach Greg Meehan's staff as volunteer assistant coach at Stanford University, returning to the school that helped her achieve collegiate and international acclaim.<\/p>\n
Kirk competed in the 2004 Olympics, placing ninth in semifinals. She also contributed greatly for the Stanford Cardinal in NCAA competition, amassing more than a dozen All-American certificates under the guidance of coaches Richard Quick and Lea Maurer.<\/p>\n
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Kirk join our coaching staff at Stanford,” Meehan said. “Her experience as a student-athlete here coupled with her coaching success over the past few years will be invaluable to our program. With Rick Schavone, Tracy Duchac, undergraduate assistant coaches Betsy Webb and Sam Woodward and now with Dana, I'm very excited about whom our student-athletes get to work with on a daily basis. Not only are they incredibly talented at their profession, they are incredible people.”<\/p>\n
Kirk will be taking on the coaching duties at Stanford in addition to her numerous duties elsewhere in the Palo Alto area. She is the head coach of a new branch of the Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics team, called Palo Alto-DKS (Dana Kirk Swimming). Based at the Fremont Hills pool, Kirk's team has grown from a summer league group to a year-round program of more than 100 swimmers.<\/p>\n
Watch this video interview featuring Dana Kirk at the 2012 American Swimming Coaches Association's world clinic in Las Vegas, in which she looks back on her swimming career and talks about her evolution into coaching:<\/p>\n