It took just five seasons for Stephen Jungbluth to lead the Colgate women's swimming and diving team to the top of the Patriot League. Now in his sixth year as the head coach of both the men's and women's programs, Jungbluth hopes to find a place for the Raiders on the national stage in 2009.
During his five years at the helm at Colgate, Jungbluth's athletes have achieved 956 personal bests, set 82 varsity records, and established 72 freshman records. Every swimmer Jungbluth has recruited into the program has achieved at least one personal-best time during their careers.
Last season, the Colgate women's team won the first Patriot League championship in program history. The Raiders placed a team-record 11 on the all-league teams, and six swimmers took home at least one gold medal as Colgate won five individual events and both medley relays. For the second time in three years, a Raider was named Female Rookie of the Meet: Erin McGraw '11 claimed that honor after winning the 200 IM and breaking the league record in her 100 fly victory.
On the men's side, Zach Whitman '08 became the first Raider to win an individual title in five years when he captured gold in the 100 fly at the 2008 Patriot League Championship. Whitman was one of a team-record four swimmers who earned all-Patriot League recognition.
During the 2005-06 season, Jungbluth led Colgate¹s women's team to one of its best campaigns to date as a member of the Patriot League. The Raiders swept through their dual-meet schedule without a blemish against conference opponents, including beating Navy for the first time in school history, and upsetting four-time defending league champion Bucknell for the first time in 21 years. At the conference meet, the Raiders finished second to the Bison by the slimmest margin in league history. Colgate also found success outside the league, beating Upstate New York rivals Syracuse and Cornell for the first time in more than 20 years.
Jungbluth's swimmers also found individual success during the 2005-06 season. Emily Murphy '09 was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Meet after taking gold in all seven of her events at the league meet. Murphy, along with classmates Beverly Walker and Lisa Marchi and Chrissy Zaika '06, all won individual championships, and none of them finished lower than third in their 12 individual events. In all, Colgate produced more individual champions at the 2006 league meet than at all the previous conference championships combined, including sweeping the sprint events, and the women took home gold medals in more than half of the meet's individual events.
At the 2006 conference meet, the Raider women became the first team in the league to sweep all five relay events since Navy achieved the feat in 1995. Nine members of the women's team earned all-Patriot League honors after Colgate captured a meet-high 12 gold medals en route to its second runner-up finish in three years. By the end of the season, the Raider women had broken all but four of Colgate's varsity swimming records.
Also in 2006, Levi Benson '06 became the first swimmer in program history to be named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team.
In his first season at Colgate, Jungbluth earned Patriot League Coach of the Year honors after leading the women's team to a second-place finish at the league championship and placing five athletes on the all-Patriot League team. It was the highest finish at a conference meet in the history of the Raider women's swimming and diving program.
That same year, the men's squad finished with a 9-5 record, the most wins in 20 seasons. The two teams combined for 180 lifetime-best performances over the course of the season. The men and women combined to break 20 varsity records, with the women's team shattering all five of the relay records, four of which were set the previous season.
Jungbluth has attributed his team's success to the student-athletes' positive attitudes, constructive teamwork, and dedication to excellence. He looks forward to even greater success in the future.
"Right now, I am speaking with some of the top student-athletes in the country who are interested in Colgate, first and foremost for the excellent academic curriculum we can offer," Jungbluth said. "They are also starting to see that we have a serious swimming program, with a clear vision of what we want to accomplish."
In the spring of 2007, Jungbluth became the first holder of the Mark S. Randall Endowed Coaching Chair for Swimming and Diving. The $1.5 million endowed chair pays tribute to the late Mark Randall, who coached Colgate's swimming and diving teams from 1945 to 1978. The chair was made possible through the generosity of Robert Fox '59 and dozens of other investors.
During his three seasons at the Naval Academy, Jungbluth produced nine Patriot League champions, six Patriot League record-setting performances, two Patriot League Championship Swimmers of the Meet and one team championship.
Prior to coaching at Navy, Jungbluth served as an assistant coach and later interim head coach at Amherst College. As an assistant, he helped coach seven New England champions, 10 All-Americans and 13 honorable-mention All-Americans. In addition, the Jeffs broke 41 varsity and/or pool records, and the men's team posted a perfect 10-0 record during the 1995-96 season.
Jungbluth was a four-year letterwinner in swimming at UMass-Amherst. He received the Minuteman Award to recognize his "dedication and hard work beyond what is expected" after serving as a team co-captain during his senior season.
Jungbluth received his bachelor's degree in exercise science from UMass-Amherst in 1994, and added a master's in exercise science in 1997.
