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COACHING STAFF

Christopher Woodard | Head Coach

Christopher `Woody' Woodard joined the Rams in 2011 as head coach of the Colorado State women's swimming & diving program.

The 2022-23 season saw the Rams extend their unbeaten dual streak to 23 consecutive with an 8-0-1 mark, which stands as the second longest unbeaten streak in program history. The lone tie – the first in program history – came on the road against Northern Arizona. The Rams finished seventh at the conference meet with seven competitors earning All-Mountain West recognition in nine events, highlighted by Amanda Hoffman’s school record of 1:57.07 in the 200 butterfly.

In 2021-22, Woodard led his team to a 14-0 dual record, the first undefeated mark for the squad in 21 seasons. The year was capped by Kristina Friedrichs winning the 100-yard freestyle title at the National Invitational Championships, cementing her place as one of only two Rams in history to rank in the top three in four individual events. The Rams finished fifth at the Mountain West Championships as the team set school records in both the 400 and 800 freestyle relays. A third school record was established when freshman diver Lindsay Gizzi set the 1-meter mark.
The 2021 Mountain West Championships provided a fabulous finish, as his squad re-established the program's point record at the meet, scoring 925 points to place fifth. For the second year in a row, every swimmer contributed to the team total, with 17 Rams scoring in all three of their individual events.
In 2019-20, the Rams won their final four duals of the season to finish at 6-4, continuing the upward trend at the final meet. The team produced its best showing at the Mountain West Conference Champions since going to a 24-place format, scoring 830.5 points to place fifth in the team standings. Every member of the conference roster scored, with diver Skylar Williams breaking a pair of school records (1-meter and platform).
In 2018-19, the Rams came in seventh out of 10 teams at the Mountain West Championships, highlighted by Maddie Ward's conference title in the 200-yard breaststroke. On the season, she set three school records (100 and 200 breaststroke, 200 individual medley) and was part of the 200 and 400 medley relay teams which established updated school standards.
The Rams placed fifth in the 2018 Mountain West Championship -- matching the team's result from 2017, which was its best since 2009.
CSU finished the 2017-18 season with an 8-3 dual meet record, its best since the 2009-10 season. This included a 6-0 stretch in dual meets in the second half of the season, including a sweep at a quad-meet in San Diego over MW foes San Diego State, New Mexico and Fresno State.
Haley Rowley won MW Swimmer of the Meet and MW Swimmer of the Year honors in 2018 after taking wins in three events at the 2018 MW Championship. In total, five Rams earned all-conference honors in 2018: Rowley, Ward, Rowan Hauber, Tonicia Thomas and Marie Goodwyn.
Goodwyn and Rowley each earned CSCAA Scholar All-America recognition and the squad again earned All-America honors.
After the 2017-18 season, the swimming and dive team received the prestigious Public Recognition Award from the NCAA for earning a multi-year APR in the top 10 percent of all NCAA programs in its sport. Swimming & diving's multi-year distinction reflects its perfect APR of 1,000 for the 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years. CSU earned a perfect APR score in 2017-18.
The Rams set 10 individual and relay program records during the 2016-17 season, effectively putting together a season for the CSU record books. Six Rams earned All-MW honors in 2017, including Jenna Beaury, Marie Goodwyn, Rowan Hauber, Haley Rowley, Tonicia Thomas and Katie Kicklighter.
The Rams set nine school records in 2013, and Breann Fuller became a Mountain West champion in the 200 Butterfly and finished in the top 25 in both the 100 and 200 Butterfly at the NCAA Championships.
Woodard, a former assistant coach for swimming and water polo at Colorado State from 2000-05, returned to CSU after six years at North Carolina State, where he was the associate head men's swimming coach and an assistant for the women's program.
Woodard has assisted in coaching Olympic gold medalists Amy Van Dyken (2000) and Cullen Jones (2008), and was the primary coach for 14-time Paralympic gold medalist Erin Popovich. Van Dyken and Popovich are former Rams.
During his tenure with NC State, Woodard's swimmers compiled 58 school records, and the women's team placed 29th at the 2009 NCAA Championships. Both the men's and women's squads were named scholastic All-America teams in 2010. Jones, before winning the gold medal in 2008, was the 2006 NCAA champion in the 50 Freestyle.
While an assistant at CSU, Woodard helped coach the Rams to a 37-13 dual-meet record from 2000-05 and produced five Mountain West champions with 14 school records. CSU finished in the top three in the MW each year from 2001-04, including a 10-0 record and a regular-season championship in 2004, the same season the team was an NCAA qualifier. Woodard served as a volunteer assistant with the Rams from 1998-00 while obtaining his master's degree.
Away from the pool, Woodard's teams have set the standard in the classroom. The team posted a perfect Academic Performance Rate for the fifth consecutive tine in the 2017-18 season, landing the Rams as one of the top 10 programs percentage-wise in the country. His teams continuously earn Team Scholar All-American honors from the CSCAA, with multiple student-athletes earning Academic All-Mountain West and Mountain West Scholar-Athlete accolades annually.
Before his time at the university level, Woodard served as the head coach for the Shawmut Aquatic Club, from 1996-98. A native of Buffalo, N.Y., he attended Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., graduating in 1995. He earned his first coaching job after graduation as an assistant swim coach with Hartwick (1995-96), where he recruited three future All-Americans.
Woodard and his wife Holly have two children: son, Gabriel, and daughter, Elliot.
 

Chris Bergere | Head Diving Coach

Chris Bergere, a mentor whose career spans four decades of success, joined the staff as the head diving coach in July 2019.

In 2021-22, Bergere coached a second diver to a school record, freshman Lindsay Gizzi, with a 335.05 on the 1-meter springboard. Gizzi finished the year ranked second on the 3-meter at 338.00. By the end of the campaign, all five divers on the roster ranked in the top 10 in school history on one of the three boards.

In his first season guiding the CSU divers, Skylar Williams broke a pair of school records (1-meter springboard and platform), qualifying for the NCAA Zone E meet on all three boards. Rachel Holland qualified for Zones, as well, with both placing at the Mountain West Championships. In his second season, he helped Katie Leonard establish personal bests on all three boards as she placed in each event at the Mountain West Championships, with Holland placing in a pair.

Bergere began his career as a collegiate head coach in 1986, since leading national teams and coaching a national champion.

Bergere’s prior collegiate coaching experience includes nine years at Yale as the head coach of both men’s and women’s teams. During his tenure he had multiple competitors qualify for NCAA Zones and win Ivy League Championships.

Prior to coaching at Yale, Bergere served as head coach for eight years at Michigan, where he coached the 2003 NCAA platform diving champion. His coaching career as a head diving coach began at his alma mater, LaSalle, where he spent his first 17 seasons. As a competitor, Bergere was a four-year scholarship athlete and qualified for NCAA Zones all four seasons at LaSalle.

In international competition, he has coached the United States' team at the 2009 World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia and at the 2003 games in Daegu, South Korea. In 2004, he served as a coach at the US Olympic Trials and judged the 2008 US Olympic Trials. In 2000, he was the Junior Olympic coach in Munich, Germany.

 

Lisa Ginder | Assistant Swim Coach

Coach Christopher Woodard added Lisa Ginder to the staff as the assistant swimming coach in July of 2019. She joined the program with seven years of collegiate coaching experience,  three as an assistant at Fordham University. At Colorado State, she will work as the program's recruiting coordinator while coaching primarily the distance individual medley and freestyle swimmers.

She helped a pair of talented freshmen earn All-Mountain West recognition, as both Maya White and Emily Chorpening made their mark on the record books. White qualified for the NIC meet at the end of the year, earning an NCAA 'B' cut in the 1,650-yard freestyle, setting times which rank her second in school history in the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 freestyles. Chorpening ranks in the top four in all three events.

The Rams' distance crew continued to produce at the 2021 Mountain West Championships, with Abbey Owenby earning a pair of top-eight finishes in the 1,650 freestyle and 400 individual medley, while Hannah Sykes placed seventh in the 200 butterfly. In all, 13 Rams placed in the top 16 at the championships in the distance events.

Ginder made an impact with the distance crew her first season, including the 200-yard butterfly as the Rams had six place in the top 20 at the Mountain West Conference meet, including three in the top eight, all of whom posted top-five times in program history.

Ginder helped Fordham finish in the top half of the Atlantic 10 Conference and take down more than 25 school records. Following the 2017 season, she was awarded the Jean Freeman Scholarship, given annually to six assistant coaches whose contributions have brought recognition to their program. The scholarship allowed her to attend the CSCAA Convention and Clinic and the CSCAA Coach Academy.

She spent two years with Bryant University, serving as a graduate assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator. In the 2015-16 season, the Bryant men's team had its best performance ever at the MAAC Championships, placing third as a team, collecting 11 medals and breaking all but five school records.

She is a 2014 graduate of the University of Denver, helping the Pioneers win consecutive Sunbelt Conference titles in 2011 and 2012, serving as team captain her senior year. A four year All-American in high school, she won the Sunbelt Conference title in the 500-yard freestyle in 2008-09, setting a conference mark which stood for three years. She held the DU record 500 free, hitting NCAA 'B' marks in that event, as well as the 400 individual medley and 200 butterfly.

Ginder has also served as a volunteer swim coach at the University of North Texas, helping to run the distance practices. In addition, she has worked as a coach at the club level with a handful of teams.

 

Lyndsey Lohery | Volunteer Assistant Coach