2010-11 Swimming
2010-11 Swimming Coaches
Ken Dory - Head Coach - 4th Season
Head Coach
In his fourth season as head coach of Concordia swim and dive, Ken Dory has plenty to show for his first three campaigns as both head coach and Director of Aquatics.
Dory's swim teams most recently finished fourth on both the men's and women's sides at the 2010 NAIA National Championships, marking the best finish in the history of the women's program and the first time that both teams have posted top-4 showings in the same year.
At the 2009 NAIA National Championships, Dory's men's team finished in third place, just 30 points away from garnering a second-place finish, while the women earned a sixth-place mark.
The results at nationals display the quick improvement of Dory's programs, which finished seventh on the men's side and 10th on the women's at the National Championships in the first season of Eagles Aquatics.
In the program's three-year history, Dory's teams have produced 29 NAIA All-Americans and six NAIA National Champions. In addition, the 2010 men's squad was awarded the NAIA Team Character Award.
All four aquatics teams train at the Woollett Aquatic Center
His work as Aquatics Director also enabled the men's water polo team to finish the 2009 season at 26-5, including 9-5 against teams ranked in the CWPA Top-20 Poll, where the Eagles ended the season ranked No. 11.
The women's water polo program has also experienced success in its first three seasons, finishing as the NAIA's runner-up in all three years of its existence.
Dory first took the reigns as head coach for Irvine High School in 1989 and in the following years, led the school to 61 team championships, including 10 consecutive league championships from 1995-2004. His team won CIF Southern Section titles in 2000 and 2001 en route to a 2001 state championship.
Among several notable achievements at Irvine High School , Dory coached eventual Olympian Jason Lezak, who was a member of 400 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay squads that won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 2004 Olympics in Athens , Greece
Lezak, who qualified for the 2008 games in Beijing , China , with U.S. record with a 48:17 mark in the 100 free, also won gold in the 400 medley relay and silver in the 400 free relay in the 2000 games in Sydney , Australia
His extensive coaching experience has also yielded numerous individual awards, including being named the Orange County Register Coach of the Year in 1998 and 2000 along with earning accolades as the Los Angeles Times Coach of the Year in 1998 and 2001 at the prep level. Dory was also named the Irvine Swim League Coach of the Year in 2005.
Dory, a member of the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association since 1992 and a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association since 1989, also served on the CIF Swimming Advisory Committee from 2003 to 2008 and was the Irvine Swim League Executive Board Coaches Commissioner in 2004 and 2005.
Dory, who has swam competitively as part of United States Masters Swimming since 1990, was a team captain at Cal State Northridge (1986-88), Orange Coast Community College (1984-85) and as a prep standout at Foothill High School
Dory earned his bachelor's from Cal State Northridge in psychology, graduating in 1989, and has since earned his teaching credential through National University
Dory and his wife, Jenny, live in Irvine
Alex Nieto - Assistant Coach - 1st Season
Assistant Coach
Beginning his first season as an assistant coach at Concordia, Alex Nieto is an up-and-coming swim mentor in the Irvine community.
Nieto currently serves as a senior assistant coach for Irvine Novaquatics, while at the same time serving as head coach for Irvine Northwood High School and head coach for Nortwood Point Flash.
A native of Nicaragua, Nieto's parents emigrated to Orange County when he was a child. He prepped at El Modena High School, where he was on both the cross country and swim teams.
Nieto began his collegiate career at Santiago Canyon Community College, where he swam and played water polo, and he later transfered to Cal State Fullerton, where he played water polo and swam for Ttan club programs.
Nieto graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 2007 with his bachelor's in economics and a minor in business administration.
James Foltz - Grad Assistant - 2nd Season
Grad Assistant
In his second season as a graduate assistant for head coach Ken Dory and Concordia Swim and Dive, James Foltz is at the outset of his collegiate coaching career.
Foltz began coaching swim back in the summer of 2005 in Delray, Fla., and has been on the deck ever since.
In addition to his duties at Concordia, he currently coaches for Woodbury Aquatics in Irvine, a position that he has held since 2009, the same year he joined the Eagles' coaching staff.
Born in Pennsylvania, Foltz prepped at Moscow Senior High School, near the Washington border, graduating in 2004. Foltz was a four-year varsity letterman for both the swim and water polo programs, and earned Swimmer of the Year accolades from the Idaho High School Hall of Fame in 2003.
After graduating from college, Foltz returned to his alma mater and helped coach his team to three state championships in just three years. He then took a head coaching position at Pullman High School, where his team finished in the top-4 of the state for the first time in seven years.
As a prep, Foltz garnered state championships in the 100 free and 200 free events, and his water polo team won a pair of state titles.
He began his collegiate education at University of Utah, where he was a two-year member of the swim team, and he then transferred to University of Utah, where completed his bachelor's degree in sport science in 2008.
Foltz, who has earned a sailing license in addition to lifeguard, CPR and first-aid certification, was Boy Scout and attained his Eagle Scout badge while he was in high school.
Foltz lives in Orange and is completing his master's of coaching and athletic administration at Concordia.
