Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Rick Walker to Coach at Open Water World Championships
07/13/2005 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
July 13, 2005
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
U.S. National Open Water roster in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois University men's and women's swimming and diving head coach Rick Walker will lead the U.S. National Open Water Swim Team at the 2005 World Championships July 16-23 in Montreal, Canada.
High school, college and post-collegiate athletes competing for Walker include Sara McLarty, a member of the U.S. triathlon team who won the silver medal at the 2004 World Championships and Chip Peterson, the fourth-place finisher at the world championship trials.
July 10-16, Walker will be with his team training in Montreal, in preparation for the games before competition begins on the 17th.
Walker was appointed the head coach in 1996 by the U.S. Olympic Committee and has served two four-year terms. He will serve a third term until the current restructuring plans go into effect.
As U.S. National coach, he heads up all National Team functions, as well as makes decisions on selection process, location, and dates for the National Team selection. Walker selects all staff that will attend any U.S. International Team function, gives approval for all athletes to compete internationally, and determines planning decisions for national team trips.
He led the U.S. to a World Aquatics Championship in 1998 in Australia, as well as fourth place finishes in 2001 and 2003, and a top six finish in 2004.
Walker has served on the National Team staff for 11 World Championships and six Pan Pacific Games.
As U.S. National Team head coach and a spokesman for Saluki swimming, Walker has taken the lead in the process to place open water swimming in the Beijing, China Olympic Games in 2008. Currently, he chairs the International Open Water Committee and is a voting member of the USA Swimming Olympic Committee.
