June 11, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – After three seasons at the helm of the Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving program, Carrie Nixon has resigned as head coach of the team to become an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s programs at the University of Wisconsin.
Nixon joins Badgers head coach Eric Hansen and will work primarily with the team’s sprinters and middle-distance swimmers as well as heading up domestic women’s recruiting efforts. She joins a Wisconsin program that saw its women’s team finish 22nd and crown five All-Americans at the 2008 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
“Being here at Notre Dame has been a great experience and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world,” said Nixon. “I really feel like the team took huge leaps and bounds over the past three years, and I’m thrilled to have been a part of that. I’m so proud of the girls and the team and everything that they have done. It feels good to have been a part of that.
“I’m excited for what lies ahead at Wisconsin, and excited to see how Notre Dame does in the future because I know the program has great things in store for itself.”
Nixon headed an Irish program in 2007-08 that sent four swimmers to the NCAA Championships and previously scored points in the NCAA meet in 12 consecutive years (and 16 of the last 19), finishing in the top 25 seven times in the last 12 years. Notre Dame won 12 consecutive BIG EAST Conference titles, which is an Irish record for the longest string in conference history in any sport. She also won her second consecutive BIG EAST Coach of the Year award at the 2008 meet.
One of the most decorated student-athletes in any sport in Notre Dame athletics history and an assistant women’s swimming coach in 2004-05, Nixon was named the fourth head women’s swimming and diving coach in Irish history on May 13, 2005.
A 2002 Notre Dame graduate and former NCAA 50-meter freestyle record-holder, she won 18 BIG EAST Conference titles and earned All-America honors on 12 occasions. Nixon was the first female Notre Dame student-athlete ever to be hired at her alma mater as a head coach.
In her eight-year affiliation with the program (as a swimmer from 1997-98 to 2001-02, an assistant coach in 2004-05 and the head coach from 2005-08) Nixon helped the Irish win the BIG EAST championship each season. Additionally, the Irish have been in the top 30 at the NCAA Championships in all but one of those nine years – and they have been a regular presence in the national rankings, including the program’s first-ever top-10 ranking in 1999-2000.
Individually, the Nixon years saw the Irish post nearly 80 first-place finishes at the BIG EAST meet, earn 59 invitations to the NCAA Championships, and cop eight All-America accolades and 32 more honorable-mention All-America citations. Seventeen of the 19 current Notre Dame swimming records were set during Nixon’s affiliation with the Irish.
Nixon was named head coach of the program in May of 2005 and continued the programs unparalleled success in her second season leading the Irish. Her team, led by All-American Katie Carroll, won its record setting 11th consecutive BIG EAST title with an outstanding 228-point victory over Rutgers (758-530). Nixon coached the women’s team to 10 individual and two relay BIG EAST championships and took her team onto the national scene where the Irish finished 27th at the NCAA Championships with 25 points.
Along with Carroll, the Irish sent seven additional swimmers to the national meet, the second-largest number in Irish women’s swimming history. The Irish finished the season with an 8-1 record in dual meets and ranked 19th nationally in the dual-meet pool by the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). Her efforts did not go unnoticed as she was named the 2007 BIG EAST Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year.
Individually it was senior Katie Carroll that led the Irish during the 2007 season. Under Nixon’s tutelage she earned her second All-America honor in the 400-yard individual medley, the same event Carroll became an All-American in during her sophomore campaign in 2005. Carroll finished seventh, but her success continued onto the second day of competition at the NCAA Championships where she finished 12th in the 200-yard butterfly, setting a Notre Dame record in the prelims with a time of 1:58.39 and earned her fourth honorable-mention All-America accolade.
Her first year as head coach saw the Irish set two school records (200 freestyle and 200 medley relay), while bringing home two individual titles at the BIG EAST Championships (400 IM and 200 breaststroke) and 37 all-BIG EAST selections. Her team, due to a poorly timed illness at the NCAA Championships, scored four points to place 41st at the NCAA meet. The Irish finished the season ranked 24th nationally and was 6-2 in dual meets during the 2005-06 campaign, with both losses coming to ranked teams.
Nixon returned to her alma mater in June 2004 to become an assistant coach. In her first year back at Notre Dame, Nixon helped the Irish to various heights, including winning 11 of 20 events – the second-most ever by Notre Dame in the meet – in cruising to a ninth consecutive BIG EAST championship with 804 points, the second-highest total in program history. Notre Dame then scored 32 points at the NCAA meet – its third-highest total ever – en route to a 24th-place tie in the team standings. The Irish were ranked as high as 21st in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) national dual-meet poll. Notre Dame went 6-3 in dual meets, with all three defeats coming against nationally-ranked squads.
The 2004-05 squad was just the second in Notre Dame history to feature an All-American in both swimming (sophomore Katie Carroll) and diving (fifth-year senior Meghan-Perry Eaton). The only other squad to have achieved that was the 2001-02 team, for which Nixon was the swimming All-American.
The Irish also excelled academically in Nixon’s first year on staff, as they ranked 29th in Division I in team grade-point average in the fall semester (3.22) and were one of just five schools to rank in the top 30 in both fall GPA and at the NCAA Championships. The Irish saw senior Kelli Barton selected as one of the University’s three nominees for the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America women’s at-large program. Formerly tabbed an Academic All-American by the CSCAA after reaching the NCAA Championships in 2002, she compiled a 3.934 GPA, having been named to the Dean’s List in all seven of her semesters.
Individually, the 2004-05 campaign saw some of the top performances in program history, as well as marked improvement for Notre Dame’s top student-athletes. Carroll turned in the second-highest finish ever by an Irish swimmer at the NCAA meet – behind only Nixon’s 50-free swim in 2000 – in taking sixth in the 400 individual medley. She also broke her own Irish records in both the 200-yard individual medley and the 400-yard IM, while posting a then lifetime best in the 200 butterfly at the NCAA meet, as well. Carroll was the BIG EAST Championships high-point scorer, and she nearly joined Nixon in the elite club of Notre Dame swimmers to have won seven titles in seven swims at the BIG EAST meet, ending up with six race victories.
Perry-Eaton turned in the second-best result ever by a Notre Dame diver in the national championships (fifth in one-meter action) and tied conference records by both winning her fifth-career BIG EAST diving title and being named the league’s Most Outstanding Diver for the third consecutive year. In her final meet, Perry-Eaton broke the Rolfs Aquatic Center championship-meet records off both springboards. She also broke her own one-meter dual-meet school record and claimed the BIG EAST Championships record in three-meter action.
The 2004-05 squad reasserted Notre Dame as the dominant relay force in the BIG EAST, as the Irish won four of the five relays after taking first in just three total relays since Nixon’s graduation. The highlight was the 800 free relay, which broke the Notre Dame record with a time of 7:16.95 and just missed a trip to the NCAA meet, ending up as the 16th-fastest in Division I (the top 13 make the national championships).
Nixon was previously an assistant coach for the Clemson University men’s and women’s teams in 2003-04, serving as coordinator of recruiting, while working primarily with the sprinters, butterflyers, and IMers in the pool.
She helped the Tigers to an outstanding season, as both squads finished among the top 40 at the NCAA Championships (men tied for 35th, women 39th). The Clemson men, who scored points in the NCAA meet for the first time since 1989, were 13-2-1 (4-1-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference competition) in dual-meet action, registering their highest victory total in the 52-year history of the program before winning two titles and taking fourth place at the ACC Championships. The women’s team was 10-5 (1-4 in the ACC) – its highest win total since 1988 – and finished fifth in the ACC meet.
Three Clemson swimmers earned invitations to the NCAA meet, with a pair of them named honorable mention All-America. The Tigers also had one CoSIDA Academic All-American. A total of nine Clemson records fell during the 2003-04 campaign, seven on the men’s side plus two women’s marks. Among her other duties at Clemson, Nixon was the webmaster for its swimming and diving alumni internet site and the organizer of the Tigers’ first annual alumni meet.
Five years after graduating, Nixon remains one of the most accomplished Notre Dame student-athletes in any sport. During her time at Notre Dame, she was tabbed an All-American twice and on 10 other occasions named honorable mention All-America, with that total of 12 All-America citations standing as the most in program history. She won 18 BIG EAST titles – six individual and 12 relays – standing one shy of the Irish record for any sport. In 2000, Nixon set the NCAA record in the 50-meter free (24.99), became the first Irish swimmer to be the top qualifier in any event at the NCAA Championships, and finished fourth at the NCAA meet in the 50 free, a result that still stands as the best ever by a Notre Dame swimmer. She also was tabbed the BIG EAST Championships Most Outstanding Swimmer that year after finishing first in all seven of her events (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 200 and 800 free relay, 200 and 400 medley relay), an accomplishment still unequaled in Irish history.
Nixon, who missed the 2000-01 season with a shoulder injury, remains the Notre Dame record-holder in the 50 (22.39) and 100 free (49.18), as well as the 100 butterfly (54.07). She continues to hold the 10 best times in program history in the 50 free, as well as the top nine in the 100 free. Nixon also swam on three relay teams that still hold Irish records: the 200 free (1:32.01), 400 free (3:21.25) and the 400 medley (3:40.98). The BIG EAST Championships records still feature her in three events – 50 free (22.58), 200 free relay, and 400 medley relay – and her time of 22.94 in the 50 in the 1998 Notre Dame Invitational is the quickest in Rolfs Aquatic Center history, as is the 3:45.77 mark by the 400 medley relay team she anchored in the 2001 Shamrock Invitational.
Nixon, three times voted Notre Dame women’s swimming MVP, also participated in the United States Olympic Trials in 2000, taking 21st in the 50-meter freestyle and finishing in the top 40 in both the 100 free and 100 fly.
She graduated in May of 2002 from the College of Arts and Letters as a pre-professional studies/anthropology and computer applications double major. As a senior, Nixon was honored with the Francis Patrick O’Connor Award, which each year recognizes one female and one male Notre Dame student-athlete who best exemplify the spirit and leadership the University embodies in their actions and inspirations to their respective teams.
Born Sept. 20, 1978, in Montrose, Colo., Nixon graduated from Ouray High School in Ouray, Colo., as its valedictorian in 1997. She was a five-time Colorado state champion for the Montrose High School swim team, on which she competed because Ouray did not have one. She won three state championships in the 50 free and a pair in the 100 free. Nixon was named the 1996 Colorado Sportswoman of the Year and the Colorado high school swimmer of the year in 1997. Upon enrolling at Notre Dame, she held 10 state summer club records and a pair of Colorado prep records. She also set all but two school records while at Montrose. Nixon was recruited by a number of top collegiate swim teams, as well as various top Division I volleyball programs.
Additionally, Nixon placed 25th in the 50 free at the senior national meet in Fort Lauderdale in 1996 and was second in both the 50 and 100 in the 1997 NISCA National High School Championships. Nixon was active in club swimming first for the Ouray Swimming Team and then for the Montrose Marlins club, coached by Silas Almgren.
Upon graduation from Notre Dame, Nixon returned to her native area and served as an assistant coach for the Ouray High School volleyball team and the Ouray club swimming team, instructing children from six to 17 years of age in the latter pursuit. She also has served as a counselor and coach at the Notre Dame summer swimming camp on four occasions (1999-2001, 2003).
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