August 14, 2018

Stansberry joins group of three on Taylor's staff

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman Swim Coach Jordan Taylor has announced new additions to his coaching staff for the upcoming 2018-19 season.

Former swimmer Margaret Stansberry (Knoxville, Tenn.) has been added to the staff as a graduate assistant after finishing one of the most prestigious careers in the program's history. She is the first female GA in the program's history.

Stansberry graduated high school in 2014 from Christian Academy of Knoxville where she swam for ACAC. In her 4 years swimming at Carson-Newman University she is a seven-time All-American and 23x All-Conference swimmer. She was also awarded Carson-Newman Female Athlete of the Year in 2016 at the annual Frosty Awards.

Margaret was BMC conference champion in her junior year and currently holds eight school records. She majored in exercise science in her time at Carson-Newman University where she was a CSCAA Scholar All-American, Eagle Scholar, and Dean's list member throughout her entire college career. Stansberry has worked as a summer league coach over the past few summers and will be working towards a degree in Master of Arts in Teaching.

"I'm really excited to be back and be part of the team in a different way," Stansberry mentioned. "We have certain standards we set so look forward to improving those and helping the freshmen into the culture we have created."

Taylor has also signed the Eagles first full-time assistant coach in program history in Chase Copland.

Copland comes from a graduate assistant position with Missouri State University after wrapping up his masters in Administrative studies with a focus on Sports management. In his time coaching at Missouri State, the women's team won two MVC championships while the men's team also added a MAC championship. He helped guide the team to 20 school records and eleven different conference records. Copland primarily led the sprint program and ran the conditioning for the whole team. Over the past four years, Chase has also been heavily involved in club coaching in Virginia and Missouri.

Copland swam for UNC Wilmington where he was a four-time finalist in backstroke and individual medley events in the Colonial Athletic Association Conference. He also helped lead the team to three CAA championships during his career. During his time, he majored in Kinesiology and minored in psychology. After graduation, he worked in various strength performance settings and interned at Virginia Commonwealth University where he worked to improve the strength and conditioning of various VCU sports teams.

An East Tennessee native, Evan Pinion has also been added to Taylor's group as a graduate assistant.

Pinion has been swimming in the Knoxville area for 18 years, where he swam for Bearden High School and for the University of Tennessee. He won the 200 and 500-yard freestyle at the Tennessee State meet his senior year and earned the Tennessee State swimmer of the year award. He broke two meet records and two Junior World Records at the 2011 FINA Youth World Championships in the 800 and 1500 meter freestyle. At Olympic Trials in 2012, Evan finished 10th in the 1500 free and 12th in the 400 free.

Pinion graduated from UT in 2017 as an All-American, SEC Academic Honor Roll, and is a Tennessee record holder. He has coached for Maryville High School and Prime Aquatics over the last few years. He comes to Mossy Creek take his coaching career to the next level as a coach and pursue his master's in Business and Administration.

"It is sad to lose great people like Ben and Chris who have given a lot to this program over the last few years and have helped raise the level of Carson-Newman swimming," Taylor mentioned. "However, I do feel that I have been able to put together a great team of coaches for you guys. The staff will remain young and enthusiastic.

"Each one of the new coaches has swam at a very high level and generated years of experience and knowledge within the sport. They all wish to give back to a sport that has served them well for the majority of their lives as they will work tirelessly to ensure you get the best training and mentoring environment possible all while this team continues to pursue excellence in and out of the water."

-CN-