Olympian from Bloomington to take over Franklin College swim program

Bloomington native, former Indiana University standout and 1976 Olympian Jennifer Brinegar has been named the brand new head swimming coach at Franklin College.

She succeeds Zach Rayce, who departed after two seasons to develop into the aquatic director and head coach at Indian Creek High School.

“Jennifer Brinegar is one of the most accomplished names in the history of Indiana swimming, and we are thrilled to welcome her to Franklin College,” Griz athletic director Lance Marshall stated in a press launch Tuesday, Sept. 1. “Her championship pedigree, years of coaching success and her deep roots in this state’s swimming community make her the ideal person to lead our program into its next chapter. Our student-athletes are going to learn from someone who has competed and coached at the highest level, and that’s a tremendous opportunity for Griz athletics.”

Brinegar attended Bloomington South High School earlier than shifting to Louisville, Kentucky to coach and discover extra competitors. Girls swimming was not supplied as a aggressive sport by the IHSAA in 1974-75.

She made the 1976 U.S. Olympic workforce as a 15-year-old and made the ultimate within the ladies’s 200-meter freestyle whereas additionally swimming in a preliminary warmth for the gold-medal successful 400 free relay. She went on to win a pair of nationwide championships in 1977, a gold medal within the 400 free relay on the 1978 World Aquatics Championships and a silver within the 800 free on the 1979 Pan American Games.

At Indiana, she received nationwide championships within the 500 and 1,650-yard freestyles and took residence seven Big Ten titles earlier than graduating in 1984. The Hoosiers inducted Brinegar to their Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999 and he or she was inducted to the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

Brinegar earned a regulation diploma from Vanderbilt. In 1994, Brinegar returned residence to work within the athletic division at IU. She earned a grasp’s diploma in sports activities administration in 1996 and was promoted to assistant athletic director from 1999-2008 after which to senior assistant athletic director till 2021.

Her teaching profession started in 2009 as a volunteer assistant for Donner Swim Club in Columbus, Indiana. Among her college students have been sons Kevin, who was a member of a Division III nationwide championship workforce at Denison in 2016; and Michael, who went on to win a state championship within the 500 free and made the 2021 U.S. Olympic workforce as a distance freestyler. Brinegar based the Club Olympia Swim Team in 2016.

Brinegar would be the third head coach within the historical past of the Franklin program, which began in 2010. The ladies’s workforce has received the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference meet yearly because it started in 2019 whereas the boys have been runners-up six years in a row.