Malone Athletic Director Charlie Grimes announced on June 28th that Alex Keyser has been named the new head coach of the Pioneer men's and women's swimming & diving teams. Keyser takes over for Monica Bragg, who resigned this spring after guiding the program during its inaugural 2009-10 season.
Keyser served as the assistant swim coach at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky for the past two years. During his time at the school, a combined total of 48 Eagle swimmers qualified for the NAIA National Championship Meet as Asbury’s men’s squad earned an 11th place finish at the event in both 2009 and 2010. The Eagle women also experienced plenty of success over the past two years as the squad followed up a ninth-place showing in 2009 by finishing eighth at NAIA Nationals this past March.
Keyser graduated from Asbury in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Communications and is currently pursuing his master’s degree in Sport Management from the United States Sports Academy. He was a two-time NAIA national qualifier for the Eagles, earning All-America recognition in 2008 as part of Asbury’s 800-yard freestyle relay team. In addition, he posted Top 16 finishes in both the 500-yard freestyle and the 1650-yard freestyle events at the 2007 NAIA National Championships.
Keyser served as Asbury’s team captain during his junior and senior years and also gained experience as the head coach of the DuQuoin Swimming Indians, a youth swim team for ages 4-18 in DuQuoin, Illinois.
“I am excited about the opportunity to take the reins of the Malone Swimming and Diving program and join the Malone University community,” stated Keyser. “I look forward to the challenge of building a young program with the support of Athletic Director Charlie Grimes. It is my priority to challenge each student-athlete to grow spiritually, academically, and athletically to their full potential. I am excited about the vision Athletic Director Charlie Grimes has for Malone Athletics and am blessed to be part of it.”
“Alex has great experience as a competitive swimmer and as a coach at the small-college level,” stated Grimes. “We are excited about his youthful enthusiasm and high-energy approach to the sport of swimming and diving. I look forward to working with Alex to build upon the foundation that Monica Bragg laid last year.”
