Former Vol Lance Asti has been named the new UT swimming and diving assistant coach.
Asti swam for the Vols from 1998-2001, and has spent the last two season working with men's and women's swimming programs at LSU. Before that, he worked at Clemson.
Here's more from UT swimming and diving --
Tennessee swimming and diving head coach Matt Kredich completed his staff this week with the addition of former Vol Lance Asti as an assistant coach.
Asti is certainly no stranger to the Southeastern Conference, as both a student-athlete and a coach. He swam for the Vols from 1998-2001 and has spent the last two seasons as the recruiting coordinator and sprint coach for the men's and women's swimming programs at LSU.
He previously held the same position at Clemson from 2006-10.
"Lance Asti is one of the brightest, most respected, and most accomplished assistant coaches in the country," Kredich said. "He's a fantastic role model and is known as an innovative and energetic teacher. Lance's character, expertise, and competitiveness will make him a tremendous addition to our program."
The LSU swimming programs enjoyed considerable success during Asti's two seasons in Baton Rouge. The men's team finished in the top five in the SEC in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 12 years, and the women put forth their best conference performances since the SEC meets in 1993 and 1994.
In his first year with the Tigers, Asti's sprinters produced five NCAA first-team All-America honors, an SEC individual title and record, four All-SEC selections and 11 medals at the conference meet.
Asti earned his bachelor's degree in child development in 2002 at Tennessee and received his master's in coaching education in 2003 at Ohio University, where he served as graduate assistant and sprint coach with the swimming program.
While Asti earned honorable mention All-America accolades for the Vols as part of the 200-yard medley relay team in 1999, he was even more successful in the classroom, where he was named Academic All-America and was a finalist for the SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholarship, the highest academic honor given by the conference.
Asti's wife, the former Lizzy Flynt, was a standout swimmer for the Lady Vols herself. She was a three-time All-American in addition to being a two-time Academic All-American at Tennessee. The couple has three children: Bryden, Gaines and Campbell.
"Lance is also a Vol for Life," Kredich said. "He was a model student athlete when he swam here and his wife Lizzy is also of the all time great Lady Vol student athletes. I'm thrilled to have them back in Knoxville."
Staff complete
The arrival of Asti completes Kredich's first staff in the newly combined men's and women's swimming program.
Kredich had served the last seven years as head coach of the women's program and had led the Lady Vols a banner year in 2012, which included a second-place SEC finish and seventh-place result at the NCAA Championships. He was named head coach of both programs on April 12.
In addition to Asti, the new swimming staff includes: associate coach Tyler Fenwick, who was the men's national coach for the prominent swimming club Mission Viejo Nadadores; Ashley Jahn, a former UT graduate assistant who has spent the last two years at UNLV and Idaho; and Bret Lungaard, an assistant at Army the last three years.
Dave Parrington is returning for his 23rd season as the UT diving coach for the men's and women's teams. He was named the SEC Diving Coach of the Year in 2012 as his divers won four of the six diving programs as the SEC championships.
Sterling wins 1-meter at national prelims
In diving news, rising senior Brent Sterling won the 1-meter springboard Friday at the USA Diving National Preliminary Zone B Championships in Moultrie, Ga.
Sterling defeated multiple collegiate divers at the event, including those in the SEC, and led the field in both the preliminaries and the finals. By placing in the top five, Sterling qualified for AT&T National Diving Championships next month in Greensboro, N.C.
Fellow rising senior Jordan Mauney placed eighth.
Scores were unavailable for the day's competition.
Sterling and Mauney are diving on the 3-meter springboard Saturday. Mauney is also diving on the platform Sunday.