University of Nebraska at Omaha Women's Swimming

Samland led the Mavericks to a third-place finish at the conference championships. Nine UNO swimmers and divers earned All-Summit honors for their performances: Foiles, Knipfer, Korgan, Renshaw, Hutt, Mattie Fosbender, Cami Hansberry, Anna Haxby and Erin Wright. Foiles was also named Academic All-Summit. Samland has coached five NCAA champions, and his student-athletes made 13 straight appearances at the NCAA Division II Swimming Championships from 1999 to 2011. He coached the 2005-06 Maverick squad to a sixth-place finish, UNO's highest placing at the NCAA Division II Championships in school history. Under Samland's guidance, 33 Mavericks won North Central Conference individual championships and 20 relay championships from the program's inception to 2007-08. His 2008-09 team swam outside of any conference alignment and finished third in the Northern Sun Championships, hosted by UNO and consisting of six teams from Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota. The Mavericks sent a school-record 14 competitors to the NCAA Division II Championships and finished 19th in the nation. Samland is an Omaha native and a 1984 graduate of UNO with a bachelors in exercise science. He earned a masters degree from UNO in 1987 in recreational administration. Prior to taking the reins of the UNO swimming & diving team, Samland coached the Maverick Masters Swimming Program for adults, and he was honored as United States Masters Swimming Coach of the Year in 1994. Samland has two sons, Zac and Andy.

Hessel spent three years (2012-15) at Truman, where she served as an assistant coach for two seasons before being elevated to associate head coach in her final season. Hessel was previously a graduate assistant at Henderson State from 2010 to 2012. Over her coaching career, she has guided three world championship qualifiers, 27 All-Americans and 38 honorable mention All-Americans. A four-year letterwinner at Omaha (2004-08), the Wichita, Kan., native anchored the Mavericks' NCAA championship 400 free relay team in her senior season with teammates Kristy Gmeiner, Megan Guthmiller and Cait Hopkins. Hessel was a 10-time All-American, earned another 12 honorable mention All-America awards and set four school records over her decorated career. In addition, Hessel worked as the aquatics director at the Jewish Community Center in Omaha (2008) and coached at Millard Aquatic Club (2006-10) and Millard South High School (2008-10). Hessel earned her bachelor's degree in general studies from UNO in 2010 and her master's degree in sports administration from Henderson State in 2012.