Peggy Ewald has been named the new head coach of the Ohio Northern men's and women's swimming and diving programs.

She will also serve as assistant facility manager and will be a lecturer at ONU. Ewald is the first full-time swimming and diving coach in ONU history.

She takes over from previous head coach Rock Snow, who retired this summer after 10 successful seasons at Ohio Northern.

Ewald is not a stranger to the Polar Bear swimming programs, as she served as an assistant coach last year.

"I am looking forward to working full time with our swimmers," Ewald said. "I hope to build on what Rock accomplished in the past 10 years. ONU takes great pride in the achievements of the entire university and I am proud to contribute to those achievements through the swimming and diving program."

"ONU has made a commitment to the swimming & diving program. I give the credit to the current and previous swimmers and coaching staffs who have worked very hard to earn recognitions from the rest of campus. We hope to set new traditions, continue to move up in the Ohio Athletic Conference championships and qualify swimmers and divers for the NCAA Championships."

She comes to ONU with impressive coaching credentials.

Ewald is a Level 4 ASCA certified swimming coach and has 11 years of coaching experience working with novice to National Champions and even a Paralympian.

She was head coach of Tiffin Columbian High School from 1997-2004, was head coach of Tiffin Calvert High School from 2001-2004 where she has coached 6 Ohio High School State placers and served as an assistant coach at the University of Findlay from 1997-99. She coach with the Tiffin YMCA swim team where she for many years took athletes to the YMCA National level.

She also is the founder of the USA Swimming club team Seneca Aquatic Klub team, where she has coached Senior National, US Open and Paralympian swimmers.

She also coached with the USA Swimming FAST age-group swim team in Findlay, for five years.

The Tiffin, Ohio, native also worked an the Dean of Academic Affairs at AEC-Southern Ohio College in Findlay from 2001-04 and owned and directed the Ohio Institute of Electrology in Tiffin from 1982-2001.

She received her bachelor's degree in business administration with honors from Tiffin University in 1989 and earned the master's degree in education from Heidelberg College in 1996.

Ewald is married to Dan Ewald and they have three children; Ellen a Heidelberg Graduate, Jessica a sophomore at Ohio Northern and Jacob, a junior at DeVry Institute in Columbus.

The ONU men were OAC regular season co-champions in 2003 and have finished second at the OAC Championships each of the past two seasons. The Polar Bears have had winning seasons in five of the past six years.

The Lady Polar Bears have posted six consecutive seasons with a record of .500 or better, finishing 5-4 this winter. The Ohio Northern women have finished third at the OAC the last two seasons.

ONU will open its 2004-05 season on Oct. 23 when it hosts the OAC Relays at the ONU Sports Center.