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Swimming & Diving Coaching Staff

Head Coach Jack Groselle

Former NCAA Division III national champion Jack Groselle enters his 19th overall season as Hiram College's head swimming and diving coach. Groselle, a 1976 graduate of the College, begins his 11th season following a four-year hiatus from coaching. He was previously the Terriers' head coach from 1988-95.

Last season, both the men and women posted strong finishes at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. The women placed eighth while the men finished ninth.

The teams excelled in the classroom as well, with both teams earning team All-Academic honors both semesters in 2008-09 from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. In 2001-02, Groselle guided the men's team to a seventh-place finish at the NCAC Meet and was honored as the NCAC Men's Coach of the Year. In 2005-06, he coached the school's only conference Swimmer-of-the-Year in Beth Groselle who earned the honor for the second time in her career.

During his coaching tenure, Hiram has produced numerous all-conference performers, two conference swimmers-of-the-year, and five NCAA Division III national qualifiers and All-Americans.

Previously, Groselle was named Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of the Year four times (1991-men, 1994, 1995, 2006-women).

As an undergraduate, Groselle was the 1976 NCAA Division III national champion in the 50-meter freestyle event and was twice named an All-American. A recipient of the Donald M. Campbell, Jr. Memorial Award, Groselle earned All-President's Athletic Conference honors twice and was the PAC Most Valuable Swimmer in 1976.

In addition, Groselle held six Hiram College school records as well as over 30 world and national Master's swimming records. He is also the oldest person to swim in the United States Open Championships and Sectionals for U.S.A. Swimming and competed in the FINA (Federation of International Athletics) Masters' Swim Meet in Palo Alto, California on the campus of Stanford University, winning four gold medals and setting two world records.

All three of Groselle's children are Hiram alums including his two sons, John '03, Jason '04 and his daughter Beth '06, a 12-time individual All-American, who graduated from Hiram in 2006. The family resides in Hiram.

Assistant Coach Jason Groselle

Phone:  330.569.5343
Email:  grosellejm@hiram.edu

Jason Groselle will be in his fourth season as an assistant head coach for the Hiram swimming and diving program in 2009-10.

Groselle, a 2004 graduate of the college, competed for four years as a member of the men’s team as a student.  He earned four varsity letters and served as team captain all four seasons.  Groselle graduated from Hiram with a degree in management.

As a student-athlete, Groselle currently holds one individual school record and is a member of two record-holding relay teams.  He holds the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke (59.59) and is a member of the 200-yard medley relay (1:38.67) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:13.70).

Groselle currently resides in Hiram, Ohio.

Assistant Coach Laura Kessler

Laura Kessler begins her fourth season as a member of the swimming and diving staff as an assistant coach in 2009-10.

She graduated from Kenyon College Magna Cum Laude with High Honors in Biology, Phi Beta Kappa and a member of Sigma Xi..  She received an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship in Swimming.  She has a Master’s degree in Bio-Medical Engineering from the Ohio State University and currently works at the Cleveland Clinic as a Section Head in Cardiothoracic Anesthesia.

She lettered at Kenyon four times in swimming and twice in track.  She was a co-captain of the swim team and was named Kenyon Athlete of the Year her senior year. She was a twelve time NCAA Swimming All-American.

Kessler has played water polo from the time she was in high school.  She coached the Ohio State University women’s water polo club for several years during the 1980s.  She played in the United States Olympic Festival in 1986 as a member of the eastern region water polo team.

Kessler has coached Master’s swimming for 20 years and in recent years has done private coaching for Master’s swimmers and triathletes.  She also competes as a Masters swimmer and in the past year won six national titles and was on a record setting relay.

Kessler is currently the president of her son’s YMCA swim club. She has been very involved in Masters swimming at the local and national level and won the Dorothy Donnelly United States Masters Swimming Service Award in 2006 for her 23 years of service to the sport.

Kessler resides in Brecksville, Ohio and has two sons, Cameron, 13 and Christian, 11. 

Assistant Coach Prudy Hall

Prudy Hall will begin her third season as an assistant coach in 2009-10.  Hall has been actively involved in swimming for a number of years including competing in "Masters Swimming" in age groups both in the United States and Australia. 

In addition to helping out the Hiram swim program as an assistant coach, Hall is also involved in the Hiram community.  She is a professor at the College teaching biology and chemistry since 1988.  Hall is also an amateur violinist and a long-time member of the Hiram College Chamber Orchestra.

Hall resides in Hiram with her husband Rich.

Diving Coach Marc Cahalane

Phone:  330.569.5343

Marc Cahalane will begin his third season as diving coach at Hiram College in 2009-10.  Cahalane joined the coaching staff in 2007-08 following a three-year stay with the Mile High Dive Club in Denver, Colorado as head diving coach for the Western Denver Region.  He is also the current owner and head coach of the American Flyers Diving club and facility in Solon.

Cahalane brings a wealth of coaching experience and success to Hiram that has included a number of head coaching positions at various diving clubs, high schools and universities, including serving as head coach of the University of Colorado club team for two seasons (2005-2007).  He has also coached a total of one state champion, seven state finalists and four state qualifiers at the high school level.

Cahalane is a 1996 graduate of Ohio University where he earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts with an emphasis in drawing and painting.  He was also an accomplished member of the Bobcat diving team as a three-time NCAA qualifier.

Cahalene currently resides in Macedonia.  

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