William Jewell College Men's Swimming

Gole enters his sixth season as the head swimming coach at William Jewell College. Gole brings 15 years of college coaching experience to lead the William Jewell College mens and womens teams into their fourth season in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. During the 2015-16 season Gole led Jewell to their first top 30 national finish as the Cardinal women placed 29th at the NCAA Division II Championships. The women's team also finished fourth at the GLVC Championships for the second consecutive season while the men's team placed sixth. While at the conference meet Jewell broke 21 program records. At the end of the season, junior Paige Meredith finished eighth in the women's 200 yard butterfly at the national championships to earn the first NCAA Division II All-America honors in program history. Meredith also earned two honorable mention All-America honors finishing 14th in the 200 yard individual medley and 12th in the 100 yard butterfly. In 2016 Gole also had his first freshman qualify for the NCAA DII Championships as Maddie Allen made the cut in the 500 , 1650, and 5000 freestyle.  Also successful out of the water, Gole led the Cardinal men's team to a second consecutive GLVC Sportsmanship Award while both teams also earned a CSCAA Academic All-America honor. Two 2016 seniors Shane Ahrens and Haley Ramsey were also selected for the prestigious GLVC Council of Presidents Award.  During the 2014-2015 season, the womens team finished fourth place in the GLVC Championships which was an improvement on their fifth place finish at the inaugural GLVC Championships in 2014. The womens teams performance earned Gole the honor of GLVC Coach of the Year on the womens side. At the GLVC Championships, the women broke 17 out of a possible 19 school records. Maggie Metz (Sr.) led the way for the Cardinals with three runner-up finishes in the 1000 freestyle, 400 individual medley, and 1650 freestyle. The men finished fifth  for the second consecutive season at the GLVC Championships, but closed the gap on four place Lewis University. João Pedro Granato (Fr.) became the first GLVC individual champion for William Jewell College with his victory in the 1650 freestyle (15:45.74). Granatos performances at the GLVC Championships earned him the honor of GLVC Freshman of the Year on the mens side. Overall, the men broke 17 out of a possible 19 school records at the GLVC Championships. While the swimming performances are extremely important, Gole is extremely proud that the William Jewell College mens and womens teams earned the Sportsmanship Award for their overall support that they gave the rest of the GLVC during the GLVC Championships. This is the second consecutive season for the men earning this honor. The 2014-2015 season proved to be a historic season for the William Jewell College swimming program as Paige Meredith (So.) and Nathan Graber (Jr.) became the first NCAA DII National Qualifiers in program history. Meredith qualified for the National Championships in the 100 butterfly. She also competed in the 200 individual medley. Graber qualified for the National Championships in the 200 butterfly and also competed in the 200 freestyle. At the 2015 NCAA DII National Championships, Nathan Graber became the first NCAA DII All-American Honorable Mention with his 12 th place finish in the 200 butterfly. Graber qualified 9 th with his school record time of 1:48.08. Merediths highest finish was 20 th in the 100 butterfly. The program has also achieved academic success this past season. The mens and womens teams earned the honor of College Swimming Coaches Association of America Scholar All-American (CSCAA) teams for their overall GPAs. Nathan Graber became the first CSCAA Scholar All-American for his performances in the pool and in the classroom. Shea Marcinski (Fr.) and Josh Sawers (Sr.) were named CSCAA Scholar All-American Honorable Mention. It has been a true honor to have been given the opportunity to start the swimming program back up at William Jewell College, said Mark Gole.I am extremely proud of the work that our student-athletes put forth in the pool and in the classroom. I firmly believe that they will be fully prepared to be successful upon graduation. Prior to William Jewell College, Gole spent six seasons as head swimming coach at Truman State University. While there, he helped lead the womens team to the 2006 and 2008 NCAA Division II national championship. During those seasons, Gole was named the CSCAA Coach of the Year for womens swimming. His womens teams also finished second and fourth in the nation in 2007 and 2009 respectively. During his time at Truman State University, he coached two individual National Champions. One of which established the NCAA DII National Record in consecutive seasons. Gole also coached three National Championship relays teams. The womens team finished first in the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Conference (NSISC) in 2006-2010. Gole was named the NSISC Coach of the Year three of those seasons (2006, 2007, 2009). Gole, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., began his coaching career in 1996 with the Rockford (Mich.) Riptide summer program as an assistant coach. From 1998-2005 he served as the senior assistant coach with the Oakland (Mich.) Live Yers (OLY), a USA Swimming Gold Medal Club. During his time at OLY, the Live Yers won 11 out of a possible 14 USA Sectional Championships as well as the Junior National boys team championship in 1999. Gole served as an assistant coach at Wayne State University (Mich.) from 2000-2005. He helped produce seven national qualifiers for the Warriors in 2005, one of their most successful campaigns in school history up to that point. Gole assisted the mens team to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship in 2003 and in 2004. Gole is a 1999 graduate of Oakland University (Mich.), where he received his degree in communications. While there, he was a member of three consecutive NCAA Division II mens national championship teams (1995-97). He was a member of three national champion relay teams during his time at Oakland and was a 16-time NCAA DII All-American. Gole was also the GLIAC Swimmer of the Year in 1996. Gole and his wife, Emily, were married in 2011. They reside in Liberty with their daughter, Emma, and son, Mason.    

Graber has been named the new Assistant Swimming coach as announced by head coach Mark Gole.  Graber graduated from William Jewell College in 2015 and was the first mens swimmer in program history to compete at the NCAA DII National Championships. At the 2015 NCAAA DII National Championships in Indianapolis, Ind., Graber became the first NCAA DII All-American-Honorable Mention with his 12th place finish in the 200 Butterfly. He qualified 9th with a school record time of 1:48.08. Nathan also swam the 200 Freestyle at the National meet an event in which Nathan holds the school record. He also was a member of the school record setting 800 Free Relay from this past season.   We could not be more pleased to have Nathan as a member of the coaching staff this year," said Gole.  "His specific experience of being a successful student-athlete here at William Jewell College is going to be invaluable. Nathan has also been a student of the sport and I will look forward to working with him this year as he develops in his new role.   Aside from Nathans tremendous improvement and accomplishments in the pool, he excelled in the classroom. He received the R. E. Dad Bowles award for athletic and academic excellence for the 2012-2013 and 2014-2015 school years, Academic All-American Honorable mentions twice, CSCAA Scholar All-American honors, and was added to the deans list for academic performance for the 2013-2014 school year. Nathan was also a captain of the mens swimming team during the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons.   Nathan had the privilege of swimming for coaching greats, Mike Lewellyn and Peter Malone, during his time with the Kansas City Blazers.