Georgetown University Swimming & Diving Head Coach Jack Leavitt has announced that 2016 Olympic gold medalist Katie Meili has joined the program as a volunteer assistant coach. Meili, fresh off winning three medals at the 2017 FINA World Championships, will work with the Hoyas while attending Georgetown Law School.
“We’re thrilled to add such an impressive person as Katie to our staff,” Leavitt said. “Our team will benefit greatly from her presence, not only from her experience at the Olympic and world championships levels but her college experience at Columbia is very similar to what our team lives day in and day out. It’s inspiring to see what she accomplished and continues to accomplish as a student and a swimmer.”
Meili comes to the Hilltop after a very successful showing at the 2017 world championships in Budapest, Hungary. She won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay after swimming the second leg in the preliminary heats to qualify the United States for the finals, where they eventually won gold. Meili also took silver in the 100-meter breaststroke and bronze in the 50-meter breaststroke.
At the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games, Meili similarly claimed gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay, once again helping the U.S. qualify for the finals by taking the top spot in the preliminary heats. She also won a bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Meili is a 2013 graduate of Columbia University, where she earned a degree in psychology. While swimming for the Lions, she was a 10-time Ivy League champion and two-time All-American. She won five Ivy League titles as a junior and four more as a senior, twice being named the championship’s Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet.
Meili qualified for six NCAA Championships, finishing as high as third in the 100-yard breaststroke in 2013. She currently holds Columbia’s records in the 100-yard freestyle and the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and was part of record-setting 200- and 400-yard medley relay teams as well as the 400- and 800-yard freestyle relay teams. Her times in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, as well as the 400-yard medley relay are also Ivy League records.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the Georgetown swim team during my time at Georgetown Law,” Meili said. “I am grateful to Coach Leavitt and (Assistant) Coach Laura McGlaughlin for allowing me to get involved with the program and I am eager to both learn from and share knowledge with this incredible group of student-athletes.”
The above press release courtesy of Georgetown Swimming and Diving.
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