Lake Forest College Swimming & Diving
Coaching Staff
 
Career Highlights
Seventh year as head coach at Lake Forest
Has coached seven different athletes to MWC Swimmer/Diver of the Year honors and five All-Americans
In the past six years, his swimmers and divers have won more than 30% of the events at the MWC Championships and broken 13 school records
Coached school's fourth-ever individual national champion in 2001 and 45th and 46th All-Americans in 2005
Former Assistant Coach at University of North Carolina and Harvard University
Head Coach Alec Webster

Coach Webster is in the midst of his seventh season (1999-present) as head coach of the Lake Forest College men's and women's swimming & diving programs. In his six years, Webster has kept the Foresters near the top of the Midwest Conference and gained attention at the national level.

Lake Forest's 2004-05 women's team repeated as runner-up at the MWC Championship Meet while the men finished third, just 14 points out of second. It marked the 22nd consecutive year that both squads finished among the conference's top three teams. Individually, the women won six events and placed second in six as well, while the men recorded nine top-three performances, including a pair of victories. Chelsea Bueter repeated as MWC Female Swimmer of the Year and Maggie Rezac earned the inaugural MWC Female Diver of the Year award.

Rezac and fellow freshman diver Kendall Swett both advanced to the NCAA National Championship Meet, where they each earned All-American honors and combined to score 35 team points, placing Lake Forest 27th in the country. They are the third and fourth Foresters to earn All-American honors in Webster's six years.

The program's best season under Webster came in 2000-01 when he guided the men's team to a Midwest Conference championship while the women finished as the league's runner-up and placed 22nd in the nation. It was the school's highest finish at nationals since 1997 when the women's team placed 20th. In addition, MWC Female Swimmer of the Year Ji Lie won a national championship in the 100-backstroke and placed fourth in the 200-backstroke. She became the first Lake Forest female swimmer to win a national title.

Twenty-eight Lake Forest men and women have claimed MWC titles in a total of 75 events during Webster's tenure. His coached Rob Edgell to MWC Swimmer of the Year honors in 2000, Randi Estes and Karie Schuenke shared the award in 2002, and Bueter claimed it in 2004. Edgell also earned All-American honors at the 2000 NCAA Division III National Championship Meet.

Forester swimmers and divers have been equally impressive in the classroom. Last year, 13 of Webster's student-athletes earned Academic All-Conference awards and members of the team have earned 48 such distinctions in his six years as head coach. In addition, Edgell was named to the 2000 GTE Academic All-America Second Team and Joe Zemaitis and Brandon Johnson were, respectively, the recipients of the 2001 and 2002 Roy LeClere Awards, given to the Midwest Conference's two-sport athlete with the highest grade point average throughout his junior year.

Webster, a native of Durham, North Carolina, grew up swimming for the Durham Aquatic Club under the tutelage of Duke University Head Coach Robert Thompson. He then attended Williams College, an NCAA Division III school in Massachusetts, where he helped lead the Ephs to four New England Conference Championships and four top ten finishes at the Division III Nationals. He was co-captain of both the swim team and the water polo squad his senior year.

Upon graduation from Williams in 1992, Coach Webster went directly into coaching at Harvard University as the head assistant coach for the varsity men's water polo team and assistant coach for the varsity men's swim team under Mike Chasson. He also assisted with the Massachusetts Bay Marlins, the local age group team.

After a year in Cambridge, Webster returned to North Carolina to coach with the North Carolina Aquatic Club and the University of North Carolina varsity swim teams, both under Coach Frank Comfort, the all-time winningest coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history. Webster assisted in building the age group team to a national ranking of seven, while helping the UNC varsity teams to six Atlantic Coast Conference Championships and numerous top 20 finishes at the NCAA Division I National Meet.

Webster's Year-by-Year Coaching Record at Lake Forest
YEAR WOMEN MWC FINISH MEN MWC FINISH
1999-00 3-2 3rd 3-2 3rd
2000-01 4-1 2nd 4-1 1st
2001-02 2-4 3rd 4-2 3rd
2002-03 2-2 2nd 3-2 2nd
2003-04 5-2 2nd 2-5 3rd
2004-05 6-1 2nd 3-4 3rd
2005-06 5-3 2nd 4-4 3rd
7-Years Total 27-15 (.643) 23-20 (.535)


<----- Click to e-mail Head Coach Alec Webster.

Assistant Coach Tina McDonie
Assistant Coach Susan Bromberg