Catherine Frock Vogt, a top-flight age group coach in the club ranks in North Carolina and a 2000 graduate of the University of North Carolina, has been hired as a new full-time assistant coach for the Tar Heel swimming and diving program, athletic director Dick Baddour and head swimming coach Frank Comfort announced Monday. Vogt, who currently resides in Emerald Isle, N.C., swam four years for the Tar Heel swimming program, graduating in May 2000.

As a freshman, Vogt helped lead Carolina to an Atlantic Coast Conference championship. Vogt specialized as a distance freestyle swimmer during her college career, lettering from 1996-99. Her top ACC finish was a fifth in the 1650-yard freestyle in 1996. She graduated from UNC with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education as an honor student. She had a double major in both education and psychology. She was tapped for the ACC Academic Honor Roll three times ­ in 1997, 1998 and 1999. She was also a regular on the Dean¹s List at Carolina during those same years.

"Catherine will be a tremendous addition to our coaching staff and a real complement to our outstanding existing staff," Comfort remarked.

In the brief time she has been coaching since she graduated from Carolina, Catherine has earned a well-deserved reputation for developing successful swimmers on the state and national level. She will be a great asset in everything we do - coaching , recruiting , and helping our athletes succeed in all aspects of their lives. She truly has world wide contacts.

"Vogt was a member of the U.S. coaching staff for the Open Water World Championships held in Montreal, Quebec in July 2005. On a full-time basis, she most recently has been employed as the assistant swimming coach for the Carteret Currents Swimming Club located in Morehead City, N.C., coaching age group and senior swimmers. In her 14-month tenure there, she has coached swimmers who have won medals in the Open Water National Championships, the Junior Pan Pacific Games, the World Championships Trials and the United States Swimming Senior National Championships. Prior to moving back to North Carolina, Vogt was the assistant and then head swimming coach for the Meridian Swim Association in Meridian, Miss., from May 2002 to September 2003. While there she coached the Mississippi state champion in six events and high point champion at the 2003 state club championships. Coach Vogt¹s experience has also included a period as the head swimming coach at the South Run Winter Swim League in Fairfax Station, Va., and work as a teacher at Sandills Children Center in her original hometown of Pinehurst, N.C., where she also attended high school at The O¹Neal School. She has also served as a staff coach for UNC¹s annual summer swimming camp program and as head summer league coach at the UNC Faculty Club. She also worked as a swim school program coach with the North Carolina Aquatic Club. Vogt will become the fourth full-time coach on staff with the Tar Heel swimming and diving program, joining head coach Frank Comfort, chief assistant Chris Hansen and diving coach Kevin Lawrence.