A year after becoming just one of ten women coaching co-ed Division I programs, Lia Kunnapas is leaving Saint Peter's University to return to the prep ranks.
Kunnapas will return to lead Immaculate Heart Academy and Bergen Catholic High School. IHA is one of the most dominant programs in New Jersey high school history with twenty state titles. Kunnapas was an assistant at IHA for two seasons before taking over at Saint Peters.
Kunnapas led Saint Peters through a difficult time after it was placed on probation following a NCAA investigation into previous head coach Mohamed Abdelaa's involvement with an outside team and the arrangement of payment for work not performed in the men’s and women’s swimming programs. Abdelall was given a show-cause order meaning he is effectively out of NCAA coaching for five years.
In a release from the school, IHA athletic director John Downey said “We are excited to bring Lia on board as the head coach for IHA's Swim Team. As an alumna, former IHA swimmer, and a past assistant coach, Lia knows and respects the tradition of our program and will continue to successfully lead our swimmers.”
A four-year letterwinner for the Colgate women's swimming and diving team, Kunnapas was a four-time All-Patriot League first-team selection. She won the 100 back and the 200 back as a sophomore and then took first in the 200 free and 200 back as a junior at the Patriot League Championships. Kunnapas also was a member of the winning 400-free and 800-free relay teams at the league championships her senior year. She was named the team's Most Valuable Player in 2012 and 2013.
Kunnapas graduated from Colgate with a bachelor's degree in history in 2013.
A native of Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., Kunnapas received All-American honors in her senior year in the 200 and 400 free relays and qualified for the 2008 USA Swimming Junior National Championships and the Senior National Event.
