Missouri State University Men's Swimming

Collins also helped guide the MSU squads to achievements in and out of the water during the 2015-16 season. While the Bears' women's team fell just a half a point from winning its ninth straight Missouri Valley Conference championship, seven NCAA consideration times were obtained and Dora Kiss continued the Bears' grip on the MVC Swimmer of the Year, earning the award her second time while an MSU swimmer was honored for a sixth straight occurrence. The men's team also had several noteworthy performances, with seniors Uvis Kalnins and Miguel Davila earning three-peats in events at the Mid-American Conference Championships. Kalnins was named the MAC Outstanding Senior of the Year for his performance throughout the season and the squad captured 23 NCAA consideration times.  In all, the Bears have broken 32 of a possible 42 combined individual and relay program records during Collins' tenure as head of the Missouri State men's and women's swimming and diving programs. MSU also continues to be recognized by the College Swimming Coaches Association for its academic success. The Bears' men's squad has been ranked in the top 10 in team cumulative GPA among all Division I programs for six straight semesters, while the women's team has been selected to the CSCAA Scholar All-America Team list since it began in fall 2010.  The Bears' rise to prominence at the national level didn't slow down in 2014-15, with Missouri State making its biggest splash at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championship by sending a school-record three student-athletes to the meet. Paul Le and Uvis Kalnins made their third and second trips to the NCAA's, respectively, while senior Garrett Nevels became the first Missouri State diver in 25 years to qualify to compete at the national level. Collins' squad also found just as much success at the conference level. Despite a runner-up finish by a mere 20 points at Mid-American Conference Championships on the men's side, the Bears won 11 of the 20 events and broke eight school records in the span of four days. The Bears also continued their success on the women's side under Collins' watch. Winning nine of 20 events and taking seven of the top 14 spots in the final individual race -- the 200-yard IM -- Missouri State extended its Missouri Valley Conference championship streak to eight, tied for the second longest active streak in NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving with the University of Virginia. The 2013-14 season proved to be one of the most memorable in Missouri State swimming and diving history, with both the men and women sweeping their respective conference titles. The men won their 19th conference championship in school history and their first as a member of the Mid-American Conference, while the women earned their seventh straight Missouri Valley Conference title and their 11th overall. Collins earned his second straight year of Coach of the Year honors from both the MVC and MAC. He also was the head coach of MAC Outstanding Diver Garrett Nevels, MAC Swimmer of the Year Uvis Kalnins and three-time MVC Swimmer of the Year Renata Sander. Several school records were broken throughout the year, with Kalnins and Paul Le breaking previous milestones at the 2014 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas. The Bears were also recognized by Collegeswimming.com in February, receiving a No. 24 national ranking following a defeat of the No. 25 Iowa Hawkeyes in a dual at the Shamrock Invitational. In his first full season at the helm in 2012-13, Collins swept Coach of the Year honors, voted on by Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) and Mid-American Conference (MAC) head coaches. The Bears won an unprecedented sixth straight title at the 2013 MVC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships in Carbondale, Ill. Altogether, Missouri State won 11 events and picked up five NCAA provisional times, while junior Renata Sander and freshman Dora Kiss shared co-MVC Swimmer of the Year accolades. Meanwhile, the Missouri State men experienced a successful run during the 2012-13 campaign, capped off by the Bears' first NCAA Championship appearance since 2005. Sophomore qualifier Paul Le became the first swimmer in school history to score points at NCAAs with a top-16 finish in the 200-yard backstroke, earning him Division I All-American honorable mention recognition. As a team, Missouri State recorded its highest finish (2nd) at a MAC Championship event, just six points away from unseating Eastern Michigan for the title. The men notched 12 NCAA `B' cuts throughout the season and after a 23-year hiatus from the NCAA Division I Top 25, the Bears debuted at No. 23 in the season's first poll. Under Collins' direction as interim head coach during the 2012 spring semester, the women won their fifth consecutive MVC championship and recorded the second-largest margin of victory in MSU history. As head coach, Collins and the Bears' staff have produced 32 All-MVC first team selections and 12 All-MAC first teamers. Collins has also coached five conference swimmers of the year, a list that includes Dora Kiss (2016, 12), Lauren Pavel (2015), Renata Sander (2011-14) and Uvis Kalnins (2014). Academically, with team GPAs of 3.0 or higher, both Bear squads have annually earned CSCAA Scholar All-America team honors. Collins was named the fifth head coach at Missouri State on April 16, 2012, joining the likes of Jack Steck (1983-2011), Kent Kirchner (1982-83), Barry Hartwyk (1979-82) and Dale Williams (1965-79). In addition to coaching duties and day-to-day operations, Collins has taken the Bears' recruiting efforts to new heights. He and his coaching staff are responsible for signing Missouri State's first top-100 recruit: 2012 Olympian Uvis Kalnins of Latvia. CollegeSwimming.com listed Kalnins as the No. 68 overall swimmer in the 2012 recruiting class. In four years as an assistant under MSU Hall of Famer Jack Steck, Collins coached 26 Valley women's individual champions and 18 men's individual champions at the Sun Belt Conference and Mid-American Conference Championships. Other notable achievements as an assistant and associate head coach included four consecutive MVC titles and a Sun Belt title for the MSU men in 2008. At the 2009 MVC Championships, Collins' stroke group, led by Jordan Hawkins, Brianna Willoughby and Chelsea Dirks-Ham, combined for seven gold medals. Since his arrival at Missouri State, the Bears have broken every men's and women's school record in the non-freestyle events. During his stint as an MSU assistant, Collins simultaneously served as head coach for the Missouri State Aquatics club team, where he developed several Missouri Valley top-eight finishers, sectional qualifiers and produced the program's first junior national qualifier. Prior to Missouri State, Collins enjoyed stops as head swimming & diving coach for Springfield Parkview and Ozark High School. As a student-athlete at Drury, Collins was an Academic All-American and specialized in the backstroke events. During his four-year career, the Panthers won a pair of NCAA Division II national titles (2003, 2005) and two national runner-up finishes (2002, 2004). A native of San Antonio, Texas, Collins finished his undergraduate degree in design arts in 2005 and earned his master's degree in communications in 2007, both at Drury. He and his wife, Amy, have two daughters, Annie and Addison. 

Dirks-Ham played a significant role in MSU advancing a swimmer -- Artur Osvath -- to the NCAA Championships for a fourth straight year during the 2015-16 season, the longest stretch in program history. Osvath eventually finished 17th in the 200 breast, the second-highest finish ever for a Bears swimmer at the national stage.  She also kelped key MSU's continued performance among the best in the Bears' respective conferences last year. Despite the women's team falling by just a half a point at the Missouri Valley Conference, the Bears improved from two to seven NCAA consideration times. Dora Kiss also extended the squad's streak of MVC Swimmer of the Year nods to six. Under her guidance, Uvis Kalnins was named Mid-American Conference Outstanding Senior of the Year after he captured three-peats in both the 200 IM and 400 IM, while Miguel Davila earned his third conference title in the 1650 free. In all, the men's team accumulated a total of 23 NCAA consideration times.  The 2014-15 season may have been one of the most memorable years during Dirks-Ham's coaching tenure on both the men's and women's teams. The Bears won their eighth straight Missouri Valley Conference crown on the women's side, tying the University of Virginia for the second-longest active streak in NCAA Division I swimming. Missouri State won nine of the 20 events at the MVC meet, with several swimmers breaking school and conference meet records. The 200-yard IM served as a key example of Missouri State's dominant presence as the Bears went 1-2-3-5 in the A-finals and had seven of the top 14 finishers in the event. Dirks-Ham was an active member of either the team as a swimmer or coach during the Bears' eight-year reign atop the MVC. Her contributions also positively correlated to the men's team. Despite a runner-up performance at the Mid-American Conference meet in March 2015 by a mere 20 points, the Bears dominated action in the pool by winning 11 of the 20 events overall. Missouri State had 10 swimmers achieve NCAA consideration times as two Bears -- Paul Le and Uvis Kalnins -- made their third and second respective trips to the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Iowa City in March 2015. The Bears also sent diver Garrett Nevels who gave MSU its largest contingent ever to participate at the national meet. The Bears' assistant coach has won titles as an assistant on the women's side and also the men's side, as the Bears earned their first title as a member of the Mid-American Conference in March 2014. In her time as a graduate assistant coach, Missouri State continued its prominence in the stroke events at the MVC Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. The Bears' women's swimmers owned the medley relays since her time as a graduate assistant, extending its streak to 12 straight victories in the 200 medley going into the 2016 championship, while they have won 11 of the past 12 400 medley relays. In 2012-13, Missouri State compiled five NCAA consideration times along with seven individual conference titles. With the exception of the 100 fly, the Bears nearly swept the stroke events at the 2013 MVC Championships in Carbondale, Illinois. In 2012-13 alone, the women set new varsity records in six stroke events, in addition to five Valley championship records. On the men's side, the Dirks-Ham was heavily involved with the successful postseason runs by Paul Le and Uvis Kalnins. Both set new school records at the 2013-14 NCAA Championships, while the 2012-13 campaign ended on a high note with Le becoming the Bears' first NCAA qualifier since 2005. Not only that, Le also became the first swimmer in school history to score points at the NCAA Championships with a top-16 finish in the 200 back and earn Honorable Mention All-America recognition. During her time in Springfield, Dirks-Ham has also coached age-group swimmers for the Missouri State Aquatics club team. Dirks-Ham remains one of the most dominant and decorated swimmers in Missouri State women's swimming & diving history. During her collegiate career, Dirks-Ham became a four-time All-MVC first-team selection and totaled 13 gold medals. She also set numerous school and conference records along the way. As a senior, she captained the Bears to their fourth-consecutive MVC title and eighth in a nine-year span. Her MSU record in the 100 butterfly (55.34), set at the 2009 MVC Championships, was broken at the Purdue Invitational by MSU record-holder Dora Kiss in November 2015.  A native of Lawrence, Kansas, Dirks-Ham earned her bachelor's degree in exercise & movement science at Missouri State in 2011. 

Email:[email protected] Diving coach James Huelskamp joined the Missouri State swimming and diving staff in 2004 after more than two decades of competing and coaching at a variety of schools in Nebraska. During his coaching career, Huelskamp has guided MSU to six men's championships spanning the MVC, Sunbelt, and MAC conferences while also hoisting 18 MVC championship trophies on the women's side. He is a eight-time Diving Coach of the Year honoree, earning citations in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Huelskamp's squad has also brought home men's diver of the year distinctions in 2005, 2006, and 2014 while the women took freshman diver of the year laurels in 2017 and 2018.  MSU has seen a string of NCAA Zone D Diving Qualifiers at Huelskamp's helm, making an appearance on the national stage for nine consecutive seasons (2007-15). He helped qualify both men's and women's divers in 2014 and 2019.  Heulskamp helped lead Missouri State to it's first ever Sun Belt Championship title. He coached MSU Diver of the Year Eric Ducourneau to a second-place finish on the one-meter board and a third-place finish on the three-meter board at the conference championship. He lead Ducourneau, one of 13 divers selected from the region to the NCAA Zone D Championships. On the women's side, Heulskamp was named MVC Diving Coach of the Year as he lead the Bears to a MVC Championship guiding conference champion Chelsea Ray to a first-place finish on the three-meter board and a fifth-place finish on the one-meter board. In the 2006-07 season, Heulskamp coached Sun Belt Conference Diver of the Year Cole Kalkbrenner to a fourth-place conference finish in the one-meter diving competition and a fifth-place finish on the three-meter board. He also led Diver of the Year Chelsea Ray to a fourth-place conference finish on the three-meter board and a sixth-place finish in the one-meter competition. In the 2005-06 season, Huelskamp was named the Women's MVC Diving Coach of the Year as he coached Diver of the Year Stacey Arkovich to the three-meter diving championship. He also guided diver Ryan Maeker to a second-place conference finish in the one-meter competition and third-place finish on the three-meter board. In the 2005-06 season, Huelskamp was awarded the 2005 Missouri Valley Invitational Men[apos]s Diving Coach of the Year as he guided his two men divers to two first- and second-place finishes on the one and three-meter boards at the Missouri Valley Invitational. He also coached Stacey Arkovich to two second-place finishes on the one- and three-meter boards at the MVC in 2005. Huelskamp received his Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Education from the University of Nebraska in 1988. Competitively, Huelskamp dove for Nebraska and was a member of the five-time Big 8 Championship Diving Team. He was a four-year letterman (1983-88) and qualified for the NCAA Pre-Qual Competitions on both the one and three-meter board. He also qualified to compete at the Senior Nationals on the 10-meter platform.  Huelskamp has since coached a number of the top divers from the Omaha, Neb. area, including 13 metro champions, five state champions and five All-Americans. He graduated from College Prep Burke Senior High (Omaha, Neb.) in 1983. He has been inducted into the Metro Omaha Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame and the Harry A. Burke High School Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame.