EMORY, Va. --- The Emory & Henry College Department of Athletics and Director of Athletics Myra Sims are pleased to announce the hiring of Cody Skinner as Head Men’s & Women’s Swimming Coach.
“I am so excited to bring Cody Skinner to this team. He is a young coach who came highly recommended, not only because of his ability to connect with student-athletes and help them get faster, but also because of his strong work ethic,” commented Director of Athletics Myra Sims. “I know that Cody is eager to take the women's program to the next level and to help us get a solid start with a men's program. Cody has solid experience at Union where he worked in a program that has had strong success at the Division III national level. He has also worked with some elite coaches and student-athletes in the highly-regarded Total Performance Swim Camp held at Kenyon College, which is a national powerhouse in Division III swimming.”
Skinner comes to Emory & Henry after spending the past two seasons as the Assistant Men’s & Women’s Swimming Coach at Union College in Schenectady, New York. During his time with the Dutchmen, Skinner assisted with on-deck coaching, equipment, travel coordination and recruiting. In those two seasons, he saw 12 school records broken and coached four NCAA Qualifiers and six All-Americans. He also assisted with Union’s swimming camp and an Age Group Coach and Senior Group Coach with the Schenectady-Saratoga Swim Club.
“I would like to thank Myra Sims for giving me this opportunity to coach swimming at Emory & Henry College,” said Skinner. “I’d also like to thank Union College and Head Coach Scott Felix for giving me my first collegiate coaching experience over the past two years.”
In addition to leading the already successful women’s swimming program, Skinner will be tasked with recruiting toward the College’s first-ever intercollegiate men’s swimming team during the 2016-17 academic year. Emory & Henry announced earlier this summer that it would be adding men’s swimming as its 17th intercollegiate sport, to begin competition in the fall of 2017.
“I’m very excited to take over a strong women’s program and hope to continue the success the team has had both in ODAC and NCAA levels,” Skinner added. “I am also grateful for the rare opportunity to start a men’s program and hope they will follow in the women’s footsteps for future success. We plan to recruit highly-motivated swimmers with a blue-collar work ethic and drive to make an immediate impact in the ODAC.”
In addition to working at Union, Skinner spent the summers of 2014 and 2015 at Kenyon College’s Total Performance Sports Camp where he was responsible for running swimming practices including technique coaching. He has also worked for the Hudson Explorer’s Aquatic Team and was an assistant coach for the Hudson High School (Ohio) swimming teams. Skinner also worked for seven years at the Maplewood Swim & Recreation Park in his hometown of Stow, Ohio.
Skinner was a four-year letterwinner at Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio where he was a four-time Ohio Athletic Conference finalist in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke and 500-yard freestyle. He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in health promotions from Wilmington in 2013.
Emory & Henry has finished second at the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championships in each of the past three seasons. Since the 2012-13 season, the Wasps have won 16 individual event championships, five relay championships at the ODAC meet. E&H has broken conference records in multiple events and has had 23 swimmers recognized as All-ODAC, two ODAC Women's Swimmers of the Year, an ODAC Women's Rookie of the Year, and a Bonnie Kestner Sportsmanship Award honoree.
This past season, Emory & Henry made its first appearance on the national stage as Michaela Nolte competed at the 2016 NCAA Division III Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. She finished as an alternate for the finals in both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke.
--- This release is courtesy of the Emory & Henry College sports information department. ---
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