The George Washington men's and women's swimming and diving teams have added Samara Gelb as a volunteer assistant coach, Head Coach James Winchester announced.
"I'm very excited to welcome Samara to our staff and to GW," said Coach Winchester. "Adding an Olympic Trials qualifier and NCAA Championship competitor increases the quality and depth of the coaching staff. As a Ph.D. candidate for counseling, Samara will be able to add significantly inside and outside the pool, and I'm excited to work with her."
Coach Gelb joins the Colonials after coaching the West Hartford Aquatic Team for one year, where she developed and implemented training for nationally competitive high school athletes.
"I am thrilled to be a part of the GW swimming and diving family," said Coach Gelb. "Coach Winchester has a great vision for the team and huge plans for the program in the upcoming years. I am very privileged to have the opportunity to work with a team at an institution that values academic, athletic and personal success as highly as GW does."
Gelb swam for the University of Tennessee during her undergraduate years, setting a program record in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2010 SEC Championships, and still holds three Lady Vols top-10 times. Gelb competed at the NCAA Championships in the 100-breast, 200-breast and 200-IM in 2010 and was a two-time U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier (2008, 2012).
A Clarksville, Maryland, native, Gelb landed on the Thornton Student-Athlete and SEC Academic Honor Rolls in each year of her career. As a senior, Gelb earned the University of Tennessee Citation for Outstanding Scholar Athlete and went on to receive her master's degree in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University in 2014.
Gelb is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in counseling at GW as part of a five-year program.
