Samantha Russo embarks on her second season as the diving coach at Wagner, having come aboard in June, 2016.
In her first year on Grymes Hill, Russo coached a diving squad that won both diving events at the ECAC Championships and finished third at the NEC Championships.
Russo, a South Windsor, CT native, is a 2015 graduate of the University of Vermont where she was a two-year captain on the Catamounts’ swimming and diving team who earned the team's Most Improved Diver Award during her junior season.
As a senior in 2014-15, she was the recipient of Vermont’s Outstanding Athlete Award, which honors women-identified athletes who have made significant achievements in their sport, as well as in academics and service to the campus community.
Russo capped her career by placing sixth place in the 3-meter diving event (205.65) at the America East Championships. In regular season competition, she placed second in 1-meter (209.05) and third in 3-meter (200.85) dives vs. New Hampshire while finishing third in 3-meter (212.31) in a double dual meet with Central Connecticut and Merrimack and in 1-meter (211.04) and 3-meter (200.39) vs. Rhode Island.
Her many community service initiatives including helping the team raise money for mental health awareness through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) 5K Walk. She also assisted in running the Food Salvage program and was a member of the Big Buddies program, which helped mentor local young students.
In the classroom, Russo earned a 3.48 GPA at Vermont as a dietetics, nutrition and food sciences major, while earning a spot on the America East Academic Honor Roll three times. Following her graduation, Russo spent the past year serving a dietetic internship at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC where she maintained a 4.0 GPA.
Prior to embarking on her collegiate career, Russo was two-time All-State and three-time All-Conference selection at East Catholic HS in South Windsor, CT, where she was named the team’s most valuable diver and earned the Cheshire Invitational Most Outstanding Diver award.
In addition to her many athletic accolades, Russo has spent three summers serving as Head of Diving/Cabin Counselor/Lifeguard at Lochearn Camp for Girls in Post Mills, VT where her responsibilities included instructing girls ages seven to 15 on proper diving techniques, managing 16 cabin counselors and their campers, while developing weekly activities for 60 children.
