T.J. Davis is leading the Hamilton College men's and women's swimming and diving programs into his 10th season. The men have finished in the top 20 of the NCAA Division III championship team standings four times, while the women have accomplished that feat on four occasions. The highest finish for either team at the NCAA championships under Davis was 14th place by the women in 2003. Davis guided the men to 15th place in 2003 and 2004. At least one Hamilton swimmer or diver has competed in the NCAA championships every year since Davis arrived at Hamilton. Four women's swimmers advanced to the NCAA meet in 2011.
Davis has coached 12 different Hamilton swimmers and divers to a total of 26 All-America awards. One of those athletes is Maggie Rosenbaum '14, who became the College's first national champion in women's swimming at the 2011 NCAA championships. Rosenbaum finished first in the 100-yard backstroke, and picked up two honorable mention All-America awards in the 200 back and as part of the 400 medley relay. Megan Gibbons '12 has four honorable mention All-America awards from the last two national meets.
Todd Johnson '08 earned All-America honors in the 100 back at the 2008 NCAA meet. Diver Mike Salmon '06 won national titles in the 1- and 3-meter springboard at the 2006 NCAA championships. Davis' swimmers and divers have broken 29 different school records. A total of 31 athletes have earned 65 all-conference honors from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) under Davis' tutelege. Johnson captured the NESCAC Four-Year High-Point Swimmer Award after the 2008 conference meet. Davis was voted the Liberty League men's and women's coach of the year after the 2003 and 2007 championship meets.
Davis was the head coach at Alfred University from 1996 to 2002. While at Alfred, he coached 29 All-Americans, led the men's team to 15th place at the 2000 NCAA Division III championship, and was named the New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association's coach of the year in 2002. Davis was an assistant coach at the University of Rochester (1995-96) and at Union College (1993-95). He has been a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association and the College Swimming Coaches Association since 1993.
Davis' athletes excel in the classroom as well. Seven swimmers and divers were on the 2010-11 NESCAC winter all-academic team, and a men's swimmer was valedictorian of the Class of 2004. In the 2008 fall semester, Hamilton recorded the highest team grade point average of any Division III women's program, according to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). The women have consistently been ranked in the top 15 and the men are routinely in the top 20 in the CSCAA ranking of team GPA for Division III programs.
Davis, who hails from Norwich, N.Y., graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University at Albany in 1993. He earned a master's in teaching from Union in 1995. Davis and his wife Marieke (Kearns) reside in Clinton.
Michele Comerota is in her first season as an assistant coach for the Hamilton College swimming and diving programs. Comerota was a four-year letter winner at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, from 2007 to 2011.
Most recently, Comerota served as the co-head coach for the Teal Run Tidalwaves club team in Fresno, Texas. She was responsible for the development and training of swimmers ages 5 to 18.
Comerota was a co-captain for the Southwestern women’s swim team. She is part of a 400-yard freestyle relay that set a program record in 2011.
Comerota also enjoyed success in the classroom, as she was named to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll each year from 2009 to 2011. She was named to the Southwestern Athletic Director’s Honor Roll in 2009 and 2010.
Comerota earned a bachelor’s degree from Southwestern in 2011. She attended L.V. Hightower High School in Missouri City, Texas.
Tom Wells is in his sixth season as an assistant coach with the Hamilton College swimming and diving programs. Wells continues to enjoy a successful career as the New Hartford Senior High School girls' head swim coach. His teams have captured 11 Section III titles and 12 New York State Class B championships.
Wells serves as the Empire State Games Central Region director for swimming, the Section III high school swim chairman and head coach of New Hartford Aquatics. Wells served as New Hartford's head track and field coach for 43 years. His teams produced six Section III championships and won 329 dual meets. His track responsibilities include assistant coordinator of New York State Boys' Track and a 25-year stint as the Section III chair for boys' track.
Wells retired from his position as New Hartford physical education teacher after 37 years. He graduated from Springfield College with a bachelor's degree in 1966, and earned a master's degree from Syracuse University in 1971. The New Hartford resident has two grown children, Stacy and Jim. Stacy was a former swimmer at Syracuse University and Jim was an All-American swimmer at the University of Southern California.
Jim Ray is in his eighth season as the diving coach at Hamilton College. Ray helped guide Mike Salmon '06 to national titles in the 1- and 3-meter springboard events at the 2006 NCAA Division III championship. He was named a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's diving coach of the year in 2006 after Salmon won both diving events at the NESCAC championship. Diane Paverman '13 set a women's team record for most points in the 1-meter board under Ray's tutelege in 2010.
Ray has been coaching since 1977. He developed the AAU Diving Club at Hamilton the past eight years and has utilized several methods of technological advancement to train his divers. He was also the diving coach at local power New Hartford High School in 2003 and 2004. The entire team competed in the sectional championship, where divers placed in the top 10 and one qualified for the state championship.
Ray coached state high school champions in Hawaii and New Hampshire. He has attended a number of clinics during his career and is a certified swimming and diving official through the National Federation of High Schools and the NCAA.
If you are interested in contacting coach Ray for more information about Hamilton diving, his cell phone number is (315) 225-1731 and his home number is (315) 339-0644.
T.J. Davis - Head Coach
tjdavis@hamilton.edu
315-859-4794
315-859-4117 (fax)
