University Park, Pa. — Penn State swimming & diving head coach John Hargis was appointed to USA Swimming's University Games coaching staff on April 21. Hargis will travel to Shenzhen, China for the 2011 Universiade along with Penn State standout Amy Modglin (Fort Myers, Fla.).
"Anytime you can represent your country is a huge honor," the third-year coach said. "I was able to do it as an athlete [in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics] and now as a coach."
New Arizona head coach Eric Hansen will head up the United State women's team that will compete in Southeast China Aug. 12-23. Hansen was Wisconsin's head coach for 12 seasons and returned to his alma mater just weeks ago when hall of fame head coach Frank Busch left to be USA Swimming's National Team Director.
"For Eric to select me, I'm very honored to serve under him," Hargis added. "He's one of the best coaches in America right now. What I'll be able to learn from him and the other assistants will be an education within itself."
Modglin was added to the team in November and is slated to compete in the 200 backstroke, her specialty. Modglin earned All-American honors in the event at the NCAA Championships in March, breaking Penn State's record once again, finishing 16th overall and clocking a time of 1:53.66 in the preliminaries.
The last Nittany Lion swimmer to compete in the University Games was Patrick Schirk, who took part in the 2009 edition of the competition. Coincidentally, Modglin will compete in the same event Schirk did two years ago when PSU's only NCAA champion earned silver in the 200 backstroke despite a torn hand tendon. Unfortunately, Schirk's medley relay squad was DQ'd and was unable to place.
"We've had good luck with kids going to this meet from Penn State," noted Hargis. "Pat almost walked away with two medals [in 2009], hopefully Amy can follow suit and do the same. With Pat it was such a confidence thing to put on the red, white and blue and for our swimmers to be around that caliber of an athlete when he was here."
Hargis is excited to head to China and represent the United States once again. The Nittany Lion head coach was part of a gold-medal winning relay during the 1996 Olympic games. Hargis looks forward to adding more Penn State success into the national program.
"When I came in, one of my goals was to put student-athletes in position to represent our country," Hargis said. "For those people to notice what our program is doing tells us that our philosophy is working and it goes back to what these student-athletes have done. Our swimmers are performing at those levels where other coaches are noticing them."