DAVE DOW
Head Men's Swimming & Diving Coach
Year of Service: 2nd
Alma Mater: SUNY Cortland '09
Education: B.S. sport management, M.S recreation management in leisure services.
David Dow put forth a solid season in his first as head men's swimming and diving coach at TCNJ. He led the Lions to a 4-2 record with a 3-1 mark in conference action. Dow's squad raced to a second place finish in the Metropolitan Conference Championships. The 1413 point effort marked a 206 point improvement from the third place finish in 2017-18. Dow earned NJAC Coach of the Year honors, and his student-athletes earned 28 total All-NJAC honors. Griffin Morgan set a school record in the 400-IM and Andrew Thompson set a record in the 200-IM in the MET Championships.
Dow arrived in Ewing after spending the last three years as an assistant coach at Williams College. He was part of a program that achieved great success. The women’s team finished in the top three in the NCAA Division III Championships each of the last three years while the men’s side landed in the top 10 each season. Dow was part of a coaching staff that produced 65 NCAA All-Americans, as well as 15 individual NCAA titles and two new NCAA records. Both teams combined to win five out of the six NESCAC Championships during Dow’s tenure.
The Williams swimming programs are also known for their academic excellence, as they earned the CSCAA All-American Team Scholar award each year as well as 27 NCAA Scholar All-American honors. In 2017, Dow earned the CSCAA Jean Freeman Scholarship, an honor given annually to six college assistants based on contributions to the team.
Before joining Williams, Dow served Bethany College as the head men’s & women’s swimming and diving coach from 2011-2015. He improved both programs as he led the women’s team to its first winning season in program history in 2013 and topped that with a school record in wins in 2014. On the men’s side, Dow led Bethany to its first winning season in over 25 years in 2014 and to a school record in wins in 2015. His student-athletes set 63 school records in 27 events.
Dow served at his alma mater SUNY Cortland, as an assistant coach from 2009-2011. He worked with the individual medley and stroke groups that included a two-time NCAA All-American, two NCAA provisional qualifiers, 10 All-Conference team members, and nine individual school records.
Dow enjoyed a strong career in the pool himself as he was a two time SUNYAC individual champion in the 1650 freestyle. Dow also received the George Breen Award in 2009 and was named All-SUNYAC First Team twice as well as two All-SUNYAC Second Team honors.
Dow graduated from SUNY Cortland with a B.S. in sport management in August 2009 and received an M.S. in recreation management in leisure services in December 2011.
JENNIFER HARNETT '93'
Head Women's Swimming & Diving Coach
Year of Service: 19th season
Hometown: Ewing, NJ
Education: BA, Communications, Trenton State College
The 2019-2020 season marks the 19th season for Jennifer Harnett '93, who leads TCNJ’s women’s swimming and diving program after excelling as a student-athlete at Trenton State.
In 2018-19, Harnett guided TCNJ to a second place finish out of 17 teams in the Metropolitan Conference Championships. TCNJ tallied 1,147.5 points to put forth its best finish since the 2016 season. In January, Harnett recorded her 100th career win when the Lions defeated Kean 119-52. All of her 101 wins have come at TCNJ.
Harnett and the Lions captured eight straight New Jersey Athletic Conference titles between 2009 and 2016. The squad won 34 consecutive NJAC dual meets beginning in the 2008-09 season before coming to an end during the 2016-17 campaign. The women's team won five consecutive Metropolitan (MET) Conference Championship from 2008 through 2012 after finishing runner-up in 2007. The Lions have won eight MET titles during Harnett's tenure.
Harnett was selected as the MET Coach of the Year in 2012 for the seventh time. She has also been tabbed NJAC Coach of the Year seven times.
TCNJ has enjoyed tremendous success in recent years at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving national championships. They placed 17th overall in 2013, which came off two of the best finishes in program history when TCNJ finished fifth in the country in 2011 and 7th in 2012.
During her first 14 seasons at TCNJ, the Lions have had 81 NCAA Division III Championship qualifiers with 40 of those going on to earn All-American honors. With Harnett at the helm, Danica Roskos won four national titles in diving competition and Ava Kiss captured the 100-butterfly national championship in 2008.
In 2011-12, Laura Pierce became the most decorated swimming in program history, eclipsing the record of 18 All-American citations established by Harnett as a swimmer at Trenton State College.
An alumna of the College, Harnett earned 18 All-America citations during her collegiate career. Specializing in the 200 individual medley and the 100- and 200-free, she placed in the top eight every year at the NCAAs in her respective events.
Considered the school’s most successful female swimmer, Harnett was recognized as the College Female Athlete of the Year by the New Jersey Sports Writers’ Association as a senior in 1993. She was also named the 1993 NJAC Woman Athlete of the Year after earning four straight selections as the MET Most Valuable Swimmer during her career.
Harnett was awarded the school’s Varsity “T” Award as the top senior female athlete in 1993 and held several school records including the 200-free and the 200-IM. She was listed in the 1993–94 edition of Who’s Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges.
Harnett was inducted into TCNJ’s Athletic Alumni Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2005. She currently chairs the event committee for the TCNJ Athletics Hall of Fame.
