Kami Gardner is in her third season as head women's swimming coach at Washington and Lee.
Gardner's first two seasons have resulted in a 22-12 overall record and a pair of ODAC Championships. Additionally, her athletes have gone on to set nine new school records over the past two years, including setting new bests in all five relay events.
Gardner's swimmers have received 22 All-ODAC citations during her tenure and the Generals have claimed the ODAC Swimmer and Rookie of the Year Awards each of the past two seasons. Gardner helped mentor Lindsey Strachan '09 to Honorable Mention All-America honors in the 200 back in 2009, W&L's first women's swimming All-American in 10 years. For her efforts, she was recognized as the 2009 ODAC Women's Swimming Coach of the Year.
Gardner came to W&L following 13 seasons as the head men's and women's swimming coach, aquatics director and instructor at the State University of New York at Oswego. She guided the women's swimming team to three-straight conference titles and an undefeated record from 2005-07.
Her men's teams finished as the SUNYAC runner-up five times and combined, the teams totaled 188 individual SUNYAC titles, 26 SUNYAC records, 144 team records, six SUNYAC Swimmer of the Year Awards, 43 NCAA Division III Qualifiers and 49 NCAA Division III All-American Awards.
Gardner's Oswego teams also achieved great things in the classroom, with 14 athletes earning Academic All-America honors and several teams garnering highest GPA awards. Individually, Gardner received the SUNYAC Men's Swimming Coach of the Year Award on three occasions and was presented the Women's Swimming Coach of the Year honor eight times, including following each of her final seven seasons.
Prior to taking the helm at SUNY Oswego, Gardner was an assistant swim coach at Western Illinois University from 1993-94. While at WIU, she helped to lead the Leathernecks' men's team to back-to-back Mid-Continent Conference championships. In 1994 she assisted in coaching both the conference's Swimmer of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, in addition being a part of the Western Illinois staff that was honored as the conference's Coaching Staff of the Year.
Gardner is a 1991 graduate of Kenyon College, where she graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor of arts in psychology. She helped the swimming team to four NCAA Division III Championships and was a 27-time All-American. A total of 17-times she was a National Champion and was named an Academic All-American on two occasions. Additionally, she broke five national records and was named the 1991 NCAA Division III Swimmer of the Year. Gardner participated at the 1984 Olympic trials in the 100 and 200 backstroke.
A 1991 Honda Award Nominee and 2002 inductee into the Kenyon College Athletic Hall of Fame, Gardner graduated from Western Illinois University in 1994 with a master's degree in sports management and also served as an assistant swimming coach.
Gardner has been a member of the College Swimming Coaches
Association of America since 1994 and, in 2003, she was awarded the
American Swim Coaches Association Certificate of Excellence. In
2001, Gardner was the Assistant Meet Director for the Men's and
Women's Division III Championships. Active in the sport, Gardner
has been involved in numerous camps, both as a counselor and as a
lecturer.
Mike Ginder is in his third season as an assistant coach to the men's and women's swimming teams at W&L.
His first season resulted in the women claiming the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championship and the men finishing eighth overall at the NCAA Division III Championships and in 2009 the women once again claimed the ODAC title and the men finished the year ranked No. 16 in Division III.
A 2007 Washington and Lee graduate with a bachelor of science in business administration, Ginder was a four-year letterwinner and a team captain as a senior. A four-time First Team All-Bluegrass Mountain Conference selection and two-time BMC Co-Swimmer of the Year, Ginder helped the Generals to four conference titles during his career.
He qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships all four seasons and earned All-America honors a staggering 16 times, just one shy of the school's all-time record. Ginder received First Team All-America laurels 10 times in six different events and graduates holding three individual school records and as a member of five record-holding relay teams.
He was named the W&L Outstanding Freshman Male Athlete in
2004 and the W&L Outstanding Senior Male Athlete in 2007.
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