Alex Raasch was hired Tuesday as the first women’s swimming and diving head coach of the University of Jamestown’s program.
The program, which the university had not announced before Tuesday, will start in the 2021-22 season. Raasch will spend the next academic year recruiting to the NAIA college in North Dakota.
Raasch had been working as an assistant coach at the University of Texas Permian Basin. She began coaching in her native Massachusetts at the Hyde Park branch of the YMCA of Greater Boston, working with swimmers of all ages and founding an adaptive swimming program. She also coached the girls team at Newton North High School and the boys and girls teams at Sharon High School. Her Newton North team finished third at the MIAA Division I championships. Her Sharon team won a division title in 2019.
“We feel women’s swimming and diving is a perfect fit for our institution and our department,” Director of Athletics Sean Johnson said in a university statement. “There is a tremendous amount of talented swimming student-athletes in our region and we feel those individuals fit the profile of students that thrive at the University of Jamestown. There are abundant opportunities for our team to compete in the region and we feel we are positioned to be successful. We are also very grateful for our partnership with Jamestown Public Schools and Jamestown High School in allowing us to use their pool as our practice and competition facility.”
Raasch graduated in 2018 from Salem State University, where she taught college swimming courses. She is working on a master’s degree from Ohio University. As an athlete, she competed for the Charles River Masters squad at Harvard University in state and regional level competitions.
“Alex’s combination of enthusiasm, knowledge and work ethic make her the right person to start our program,” Johnson said. “She made a tremendous impression from her first conversation until we made the decision to hire her. I am confident that she will build strong and long-lasting relationships with high school and youth coaches in our region and that will lead to the recruitment of outstanding student-athletes. She will be a great mentor and leader for all the student-athletes that join our program.”
With the addition of women’s swimming and diving, the Jimmies now offer nine women’s and 10 men’s varsity sports.