University of Illinois Men's Swimming

Novitsky enters her 16th season as the head coach of the University of Illinois swimming and diving team. Novitsky, who joined the University of Illinois swimming and diving staff as a volunteer assistant coach in 1994, begins her 21st season as a part of the Illini program. After three seasons of working as the volunteer coach, Novitsky was promoted to assistant coach in the fall of 1997. In August 2000, she was hired by former Director of Athletics, Ron Guenther, as the fifth head coach in the program's history. Novitsky's first year as head coach was filled with success as three Illini qualified for the NCAA Championships, and Jessica Aveyard repeated as an All-American in the 200 backstroke. Novitsky's swimmers continued their success at the national and international levels, as Aveyard and Ilkay Dikmen qualified to represent their native countries at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Aveyard, swimming for the United States, reached the semifinals in the 200 backstroke, while Dikmen, a 2000 Olympian, competed for Turkey in the 200 breaststroke. Dikmen also swam in the 2004 Olympics in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. As an assistant coach, Novitsky trained several athletes, including Aveyard, who was an NCAA qualifier, All-American and World Championship semifinalist, and Anna Christiansen, who was a three-time NCAA qualifier. In addition, Novitsky trained six former Fighting Illini athletes at the 2000 U.S. Olympic trials. As a swimmer, Novitsky was a two-time Division II All-American at Oakland University, earning a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1991. She was a student assistant coach for the 1991 Division II national champion Oakland Pioneers. Novitsky also earned a master's degree in kinesiology from Michigan. A native of Huntington Woods, Mich., Novitsky previously worked as an assistant coach for the Oakland Live Y'ers age-group team.

Hayden came to Illinois from William & Mary, where he spent one season as an assistant coach. In just one season at William & Mary, Hayden was the primary coach for swimmers who accomplished four conference records, 32 school records, 20 freshman records and 10 NCAA B cuts. His only recruiting class with the Tribe was the best in program history and included the first top-100 recruit in program history. At the Colonial Athletic Association Championships, he coached seven individual conference champions and three relay championship teams. Tribe swimmers took home co-Swimmer of the Meet, Rookie of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Prior to joining the staff at William & Mary, Hayden served as the head senior coach for the Nasa Wildcat Aquatics team, which was comprised of 40 high school and eighth-grade swimmers. Under his tutelage, Wildcat swimmers set one national age group record and eight state records. He coached three swimmers who qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. He coached four swimmers to a combined 14 state championships and also coached the 2011 50 freestyle USA Swimming Junior National runner-up. At the 2012 National Club Swimming Association Junior Nationals, he coached the Wildcat boys to an eighth-place national finish and the combined team to a 10th-place finish. While working with the Nasa Wildcat Aquatics team, Hayden simultaneously worked as a volunteer assistant for Northwestern University. At Northwestern, Hayden worked with both the men's and women's programs, including work with an NCAA Championships finalist, two NCAA consolation finalists and five NCAA qualifiers. Hayden started his coaching career as an assistant senior coach with Nasa Wildcat Aquatics in April of 2008. Working primarily with the sprint groups, Hayden coached athletes who set one national age group record and 11 state records. He coached three individual state champions and the U.S. Open 100 butterfly runner-up. As an athlete, Hayden was a four-year letter winner and two-year captain as a member of the Northwestern Wildcats swimming team from 2004-2008. Hayden was an All-American at New Trier High School, and he was also a team captain and four-year All-Conference honoree. Hayden graduated from Northwestern in June 2008 with dual degrees in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences and Economics.

Price Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Sport Administration Alma Mater: UCLA '01 Keiko Price was named Senior Associate Director of Athletics - Sport Administration in May 2016. Price previously served as Associate Director of Athletics, Academic Services since 2013.  In her current role, Price serves as the sport administrator for several Illinois teams, including mens track and field, womens track and field, womens swimming, womens golf, mens cross country and womens cross country.  Keiko came to the University of Illinois following three years as Director of Football Student-Athlete Development at California, where she coordinated academic support services for the Golden Bear football program. Prior to working at Cal-Berkeley, Price served Stanford as an Assistant Academic Director for Student-Athletes from 2007-2010 and was the Academic Advising Coordinator for Black Student Programs at St. Mary's College in 2007. Her post-competitive career began at UCLA as an Academic Coordinator from 2000-2002 before moving to Cal-Berkeley for the first time as an Academic Advisor for student-athletes from 2002-07. An elite swimmer during her career at UCLA, Price was a 22-time All-American, a member of the U.S. National Team, and, at one time, held five UCLA swimming records. She served as captain of the Bruin swim team in the 1999-2000 season, was a three-time Olympic Trials qualifier and was awarded UCLA's Most Valuable Swimmer Award in 1999 and 2000. A native of Mililani, Hawaii, Price graduated Cum Laude from UCLA in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in African-American studies and Master's in education in language, literacy and culture from Cal-Berkeley in 2004. She was named Golden Key National Honors Society member in 1998 and 1999, earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 2000, earned a Sears Directors' Cup Postgraduate Scholarship in 2001, earned the 2001 Woody Hayes National Scholar-Athlete Award and was the 2000 Pac-10 Conference Postgraduate Scholarship recipient. Updated August 2016

Waters Diving Coach Alma Mater: Castleton State '91 Chris Waters begins his ninth season as the Illini diving coach. Last season, Waters oversaw the training of NCAA Zone C qualifiers Emily Fung, Erika Murphy and Olivia Kassouni. In the 2013-14 season he oversaw the training for qualifiers Keri Eberhardt, Darragh McDermott and Erika Murphy. Waters came to Illinois with a wide variety of experience as a diving coach, including stops at Tulane, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Missouri State. At Tulane, Waters had a top-12 finisher in both the one-and three-meter diving competitions at the Conference USA Championships. Waters also coached one Syracuse diver to the NCAA Zone A Championships in 2005 and had two divers place at the Big East Conference meet. Waters coached an honorable mention All-American in the one-and three-meter diving competitions at Division III Connecticut College in 2000 and was named Missouri Valley Conference Diving Coach of the Year in 1999 after coaching the Male Diver of the Year and the men's one-and three-meter champions at Missouri State. A member of the United States Diving and the Professional Diving Coaches Association, Waters has coached six Academic All-Conference selectees throughout his career. He graduated from Castleton State University with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1991 and earned a master's degree in health promotion and wellness management from Missouri State in 2002.