Head swimming and diving coach Kunio Kono has announced Jake Tapp as his new assistant coach for the 2015-16 season. Tapp comes to New Mexico with valuable experience as an Olympian and collegiate student-athlete.
“I am thrilled that Jake will be joining the University of New Mexico swimming and diving family,” said Kono. “His experiences as a former Olympian, NCAA All-American and NCAA Championship team member will bring a lot of passion and dedication to our school and team.
“Jake has a strong skill set that will show up in his coaching, recruiting and team foundation building at UNM. All of us are so excited by his commitment and the Lobo swimming and diving future.”
Recently, Tapp was an assistant swim coach at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). He helped lead the men’s team to a second place finish in the Summit League Championships, as well as, a third place finish on the women’s side. In his first two years with IUPUI swimming, he achieved 43 combined team records while also coaching 34 all-conference athletes and seven All-Academic student-athletes.
Tapp spent six years swimming for Swim Canada and the Canadian National Team. In addition to helping set the world record in the 4×100 medley relay in 2009, Tapp was a member of the 2008 Canadian Olympic Team and swam in the 100 backstroke and 400 medley relay at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
Collegiately, Tapp was a 13-time All-American at the University of Arizona and currently ranks first and fourth in the 200 backstroke and 100 backstroke, respectively, in the Wildcat record books. That 200 backstroke record still stands as the Pac-12 Conference record.
Prior to the 2008 Olympics, Tapp also helped the Wildcats claim the NCAA Championship – the program’s lone team National Title.
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