Tracy Slusser, girls’s swim and dive coach, to steps down

After an 11-year spell which included the Cardinal’s 2017-19 three-peat of nationwide titles, Tracy Slusser will step down from her place as affiliate head coach of the Stanford girls’s swimming and diving program, Stanford Athletics introduced Tuesday.

“It has been an absolute honor to steer this program for the previous 11 seasons alongside [Director of Women’s Swimming] Greg Meehan,” Slusser mentioned in an announcement included in Tuesday’s press launch. 

In an announcement of his personal, Meehan described Slusser as “a tremendous coach, mentor, colleague and pal.”

“Tracy’s ardour to make a distinction within the lives of those younger girls is unmatched and they’re all the higher for it,” Meehan mentioned.

Every assertion might be present in full within the Stanford Athletics press launch, however neither coach might be reached for added feedback pertaining to both Slusser’s post-Stanford future or potential candidates the Cardinal could also be lining as much as fill the emptiness created by her exit.

Slusser’s closing season on the helm alongside Meehan concluded with a third-place end on the 2023 NCAA Girls’s Swimming and Diving Championships in March — the eighth time the Cardinal has completed within the high three nationally throughout Slusser’s time with this system. In February, Stanford additionally recorded its seventh Pac-12 convention title (2013, 2017-20, 2022-23) of Slusser’s tenure.

The departure of Slusser, who first got here to The Farm as an assistant coach in 2012 earlier than being named affiliate head coach in 2014, is the newest in a handful of personnel adjustments that can be on show when the group returns to the pool deck within the fall of 2023.

Final month, Meehan confirmed that freshman Claire Curzan and sophomore Torri Huske — the Cardinal’s main level scorers at the latest NCAA championships — would sit out the 2023-24 NCAA season, with each swimmers electing to take redshirt years with a purpose to put together for the 2024 Olympics.

Curzan and Huske are every vying for a spot on their second Olympic group following appearances on the 2021 Video games in Tokyo, Japan. Since Tokyo, each swimmers have been key figures at main worldwide competitions for Crew USA, together with profitable seven medals apiece on the 2022 Brief Course World Championships in December.

With fifth-year seniors and fellow NCAA scorers Taylor Ruck and Morgan Tankersley graduating, recruitment will probably be a key focus for Meehan and whomever is chosen to interchange Slusser if the Cardinal hope to problem the nation’s greatest as soon as once more.