Whitworth University Men's Swimming

Schadt, a Whitworth swimming alum entering his 14th year as head coach of the Pirate program in 2016-17, has had a very successful first 13 seasons leading the Bucs. He led the Whitworth men to 11 consecutive Northwest Conference titles (2004-2014) and another one in 2016, while the women have earned conference championships four times (2008, 2010, 2011, 2013). The women's team finished 10th at the 2008 NCAA Division III Championships, while his 2003-04 men placed 11th at the 2004-05 NCAA Championships and the men have had a total of five top-20 finishes. Schadt has coached Samantha Kephart and Rory Buck to NCAA Division III individual championships. He is a five-time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year, winning the men's award in 2006, 2011 and 2016, and the women's award in 2007 and 2008. Schadt came to Whitworth from Salem International University, an NCAA Division II school in Salem, West Virginia, where he was the 2003 Blue Mountain Collegiate Conference and West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletics Conference Men's Swimming Coach of the Year. Schadt had been the head coach at SIU for four years. During that time three of his swimmers earned NCAA Division II All-American standing and another won a pair of individual national titles. His women's program has finished among the top 26 teams in the nation three of the last four years, including an 11th place finish in 1999-00. Schadt was an All-American himself at Whitworth, graduating in 1996 after helping the Pirates finish as national runners-up at the 1996 NAIA Swimming and Diving Championships. Prior to becoming the head coach at Salem, Schadt spent two years as an assistant coach at the Division I level. He was a volunteer assistant with University of California Berkeley in 1997-98 and was the head assistant at American University in 1998-99.

Kessie is in his 13th season as an assistant coach in the Whitworth swimming program with primary responsibility for the Pirate sprinters. He also serves as the Assistant Director for Community Programs at the Whitworth Aquatic Center. During his previous 12 seasons leading the Whitworth sprinters, Kessie has coached numerous All-Conference and national qualifying performers, including seven-time individual conference champion and All-American Brittany Gresset. A four-year letter-winner (2001-04) for the Pirates as a competitor, Kessie was part of three Northwest Conference championship teams at Whitworth. A breaststroke specialist, he was a four-year NWC championship finalist.