Mark Sowa enters his third season as Head Women’s Swimming Coach at Wagner College.
Last season, Sowa led the Seahawks to a 4-1 Northeast Conference record in dual meets (5-6 record overall). His four conference wins tied the school record for wins in a season with the 2007 Seahawk squad. In the NEC Championships, Sowa’s squad took home third place.
In his inaugural season as head coach of the Seahawks’ swim team, Sowa led his squad to a 6-3 overall finish, 3-1 in the NEC. At the NEC Championships, the team finished second overall while garnering six All-NEC honorees and set 11 school records. Sowa also had a swimmer (Jessica Hart) meet the NCAA B Standard with her time of 54.07, recorded in the 100 butterfly event.
In addition to the team’s outstanding athletic achievements, Sowa’s swimmers placed 19 student athletes on the NEC Winter Academic Honor Roll, headlined by the 2008-2009 NEC Winter Scholar Athlete, Jessica Hart.
Sowa arrived at Wagner with 10 years of coaching experience in which he was a part of eight championship teams. During his career, he has worked with athletes ranging from the pre-competitive to Olympic levels and also possesses extensive collegiate and international coaching experience. At the collegiate level, he has worked at institutions affiliated with the Ivy League, the Atlantic 10, and the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Sowa spent one year at Harvard where his responsibilities included recruiting, evaluating and contact of all prospective athletes. Prior to his stint at Harvard, Sowa was on the staff of the University of Maryland from 2004-2005. At Maryland, he was in charge of mentoring middle distance and stroke groups and helped develop three NCAA honorable mention All-Americans, two ACC individual champions, and three school record holders. He also helped the women’s team to an 11-0 dual meet season and a 12th-place national ranking. In his final two months at Maryland, he served as interim head swimming coach, where he focused mainly on alumni relations, athletic department administration duties and recruiting.
Sowa also served for three years as Assistant Women’s Swimming Coach at the University of Richmond, where he helped lead the Spiders’ swimming and diving team to three Atlantic 10 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Sowa began his college coaching career as an assistant at Brown in 1999 and spent two years with the Bears.
At the international level, Sowa was an assistant coach at the Pan American Games Swimming Championships in July, 2007 where he coached the largest Bahamian contingent in their country’s history, including the bronze medal-winning women’s 400 medley relay team. At the club level, Sowa was Head Senior /Competitive Coach for the Barracuda Swim Club team in 2006 and 2007. There, he led the club team to the Bahamas National Swimming Champions.
Sowa is currently a member of the Collegiate Swim Coaches Association, American Swim Coaches Association, Organization of American Historians and American Philosophical Association.
Sowa received his bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy from American University (1998) where he graduated magna cum laude. In 1999, he graduated with a master’s degree in American history from Brown University.
