Sean Killion

Last updated

Sean Killion
Personal information
Full nameSean Thomas Killion
National teamFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Born (1967-10-24) October 24, 1967 (age 57)
Camden, New Jersey
Height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight185 lb (84 kg)
SpouseDr. Regan Stuart m. 2005
Children2
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
ClubJersey Wahoos
College team University of California, Berkeley 1991
CoachJohn Carroll (Wahoos)
Nort Thornton [1] (U. Cal)
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing the United States
Pan Pacific Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1987 Brisbane 400 m freestyle
Pan American Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1991 Havana 400 m freestyle

Sean Thomas Killion (born October 24, 1967) is an American former competition swimmer for the University of California at Berkeley, and a 1991 Havana Pan American Games gold medalist, who represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics in the 400 and 1500-meter freestyle. While a student at U.C. Berkeley on July 27, 1987, Killion set a 15 year standing American record in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 7:52.49. After his swimming career, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area in the 90's, where he worked in sales for Federal Express and Indeed Inc., later coaching swimming. [2]

Contents

Early swimming

Killion was born in Camden, New Jersey, on October 24, 1967 to Tom and Ann Killion, but the family moved to Old Orchard, New Jersey the year Sean was born. [3] At an early age, Killion began early swim training during summers with the nearby Old Orchard Otters. By seven, he started year-round training and age-group competition with Mount Laurel's Jersey Wahoos under long serving Coach John Carroll, a Middle Atlantic Coach of the Year in 1987, and 1992. [4] While swimming for the Wahoos, Killion helped lead the team to top ten finishes in the National Championships in both the Junior and Senior divisions. [5] [6]

Growing up in New Jersey's Cherry Hill, he swam for Cherry Hill High School East under Coach Ira Kosloff, [6] setting New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association records that have stood for as long as 30 years. A 1986 graduate of Cherry Hill, in his Senior year, Killion set records in state competition in the 200 freestyle of 1:39.71 and set a very longstanding record in the 500 freestyle of 4:24.04. [7] During High School, he won the 500 freestyle four consecutive years at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association State Championships, and took first in the 200 freestyle as a Senior, Junior and Sophomore. [6] With his consistent record of performance, he was a four-time recipient of All South-Jersey honors. [6] [8] An all-round athlete, he participated in baseball, basketball and soccer besides excelling in swimming. [9] [10] [8]

U. California at Berkeley

Killion received a scholarship to the University of California at Berkeley of the PAC-10 conference, and swam for the team from around 1987-1991, where he was a 13-time Division 1 All-American under Hall of Fame Head Coach Nort Thornton. He graduated Berkeley in 1991. [11] [6] [8] [1] While still a Berkeley student, at the U.S. Long Course Senior National Championships in Fresno, California, Killion set the American record in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 7:52.49, retaining the record from July 27, 1987, to August 25, 2002. He was only two seconds off the World Record set by the Soviet Union's Vladimir Salnikov, and meet officials considered his time the second fastest ever swam in the event. Killion believed he did not perform up to his ability in his Freshman swimming season at University of California. In a somewhat disappointing year, a case of pneumonia disrupted his training, and he was unable to make the American Olympic team or attend the 1988 Olympic trials. [8] [12]

International competition

Not long after High School graduation, he was a surprise medalist in the July, 1986 Goodwill Games, defeating world record and Olympic gold medalist Vladimir Salnikov, out touching him at the wall, winning two gold medals and a bronze. [8] Killion won three silver medals at the 1990 Goodwill Games. He claimed the gold medal at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana in the men's 400-meter freestyle event. [13]

1992 Olympics

At the 1992 Olympic Trials, in a career high point, Killion won the 1,500 freestyle with a personal best time of 15:07.61. After the trials, he trained for Olympic Competition at Team Foxcatcher in Philadelphia's Newton Square, where he averaged over sixty hours in weekly training. [8]

Killion represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He competed in the B Final of the men's 400-meter freestyle, and finished with the eleventh-best overall time of 3:52.76. He also recorded a time of 15:27.49 in the preliminary heats of the men's 1,500-meter freestyle, but did not advance. His time was about 15 seconds behind the bronze medalist from Germany who made the finals. Australians took first and second place in the event, with no Americans in medal contention. [14] [15]

Later work life and coaching

After retiring from high level competitive swimming around 1992, Killion worked as an Assistant swim coach at Rutgers University, near his home town, but after a year decided he had a greater passion for sales. At Rutgers, he worked under Hall of Fame Head Coach Frank Elm. [5] Around 1997, he settled in the Bay Area of California, where he pursued surfing as a hobby, often riding the waves found off Half Moon Bay, twenty-five miles South of San Francisco. In September 2005, he married his wife Regan B. Stuart, a former sprint track athlete at Southern Methodist University who worked as a pediatric physician at Stanford University. [6] The couple had two daughters who participated in swimming as children. [5] [16] [6]

Continuing to swim and compete for health and fitness, Killion participated in United States Masters Swimming, particularly in 1998-99, focusing on his specialty distance freestyle events. [17]

While in the Bay Area, he began work as a sales manager for Federal Express at least through 2005. [6] [2] From around 2012-2023, Killion worked with the Enterprise Sales Team at Indeed Inc. in the San Francisco area, finding professionals jobs, often meeting with large corporations to help in their need to recruit staff. [5] In 2023, in one of his first head coaching assignments, he took a position as the Coach of the Mavericks Swimming Association Club in California's Half Moon Bay. [9] In 2024, the San Francisco area's Olympic Club announced Killion to be their new Junior Swim Team Head Coach, where Killion worked with Bobby Savulich coaching student athletes. [18]

Honors

In his High School Senior year in 1986, he was named a Swimmer of the Year. [6] He is a member of the Camden County (NJ) Hall of Fame, [2] and was part of the inaugural class of the Cherry Hill East Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015. [8] He was also inducted into the New Jersey Interscholastic Swimming Association Hall of Fame. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

David Lee "Dave" Wharton is an American former competition swimmer, 1988 Olympic silver medalist, and former world record-holder in two events. During his competition swimming career, Wharton set world records in both the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uğur Taner</span> Turkish swimmer (born 1974)

Mehmet Uğur Taner is a retired Turkish-born American swimmer who was a High School All American, national public school record holder and Washington state champion specializing in sprint freestyle and butterfly. He competed for Turkey at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in five events, won a gold medal for the U.S. team in the September, 1994 Rome World Championships in the 4x100-meter relay, and was an All American swimmer at the University of California Berkeley.

Barbara Jane Bedford, who competed as BJ Bedford, currently known by her married name, Barbara Miller, is an American former competition swimmer for the University of Texas, a 2000 Sydney Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder.

Thomas Sean McBreen is an American former freestyle swimmer for the University of Southern California and a 1972 Olympic gold medalist in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. After receiving a bachelors and medical degree from USC, he would work as a physician specializing in family medicine in Ventura, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Berkoff</span> American swimmer

David "Dave" Charles Berkoff is an American former competition Hall of Fame swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events. Berkoff was a backstroke specialist who won a total of four medals during his career at the Olympic Games in 1988 and 1992. He is best known for breaking the world record for the 100-meter backstroke three times, beginning at the 1988 Olympic trial preliminaries, becoming the first swimmer to go under 55 seconds for the event. He is also remembered for his powerful underwater backstroke start, the eponymous "Berkoff Blastoff" which after a strong push-off from the side of the pool used a horizontal body position with locked arms outstretched overhead and an undulating or wavelike aerodynamic dolphin kick to provide thrust and build speed.

Lindsay Dianne Benko, known by her married name Lindsay Mintenko since 2005, is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympian, former world record-holder, and a managing director of USA Swimming. She represented the United States women as a Team Captain at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, taking a gold medal in freestyle relays both years. She held the short-course world record in the 400-meter freestyle at 3:59.53, for nearly three years from January 2003 to December 2005.

Michael James Davidson is a former freestyle swimmer from New Zealand, who swam for the University of Alabama and won the bronze medal in the men's 400 metres freestyle at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He represented his native country in three swimming events at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nort Thornton</span> University of California mens swimming and diving head coach

Norton Thornton Jr. was the head coach of the California Golden Bears men's swimming and diving team at the University of California, Berkeley from 1974 through 2007, where he led the team to NCAA national championships in 1979 and 1980. Formerly, he coached Northern California's Los Altos High School, Los Altos Swim Club and Foothill Junior College, leading them to national recognition from 1956 through 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludy Langer</span> American swimmer

Ludwig Ernest Frank Langer was a Hall of Fame American competition swimmer and world record holder who competed in freestyle events for the University of California Berkeley, and won a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. After moving to Hawaii after graduating from U.C. Berkeley in 1916 to train and work, he was one of six Hawaii-based swimmers who competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics and collectively won seven medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Roth</span> American swimmer (born 1947)

Richard William Roth is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events.

Scott Erik Jaffe is an American former competition swimmer for the University of California Berkeley and an Olympic medalist. Jaffe won a bronze medal representing the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.

John Cary Mykkanen is an American former competition swimmer who swam for the Irvine Novaquatics and the University of California at Berkeley and won the silver medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. He later worked as a chiropractor in Orange County, California.

Jack Babashoff Jr. is an American former competition swimmer and a 1976 Olympic silver medal winner in the 100 meter freestyle.

Joel Ladd Thomas is an American former competition swimmer and Water Polo player for the University of California at Berkeley and a 1992 Olympic gold medalist in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty Caretto</span> American swimmer (born 1951)

Patricia Sarena Caretto, also known by her married name Patricia Brown, is an American former competition swimmer, 1968 Olympic competitor, and 1964 world record-holder in two distance freestyle events. She is a former world record holder in the women's 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle, having set world records in those events on eight occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Jagenburg</span> American swimmer

Gregory "Greg" Jagenburg is an American former competition swimmer and a World Aquatics Champion in butterfly who swam for Long Beach State and the University of Arizona under Hall of Fame Coach Dick Jochums. In August 1975, Jagenburg swam a 2:00.73 in the 200-meter butterfly, just .03 seconds behind Mark Spitz's standing world record in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Brinegar</span> American open water swimmer

Michael Brinegar is an American swimmer specializing in distance freestyle and open water swimming who swam for Indiana University and competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 800 and 1500-meter freestyle events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Jochums</span> American swimmer and swim coach

Dick Jochums was an American competitive swimmer for the University of Washington and a collegiate and club Hall of Fame swimming coach, who served as the head coach for the University of Arizona swim team from 1978 to 1988. He was Head Coach of the renowned Santa Clara Swim Club from 1995 to 2007, where he led the team to three national championships from 1996 to 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Shoulberg</span> American swimming coach

Dick Shoulberg was an American Hall of Fame club, Prep School, and U.S. Olympic swim coach best known for coaching swimming at Pennsylvania's Germantown Academy in Fort Washington. From 1969 to 2015, he led the Germantown Academy men's team to two National Prep School Championships, and the Women's team to five women's Prep School Championships. He also coached and founded the prestigious Germantown Academy Aquatic age group team which merged with the Foxcatcher Swim Club from 1985-2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Palmer (swim coach)</span> American swim coach (1908 – 1971)

Bill Palmer was an American swim coach for the AAU Central Jersey Aquatic Club, coaching the team from 1961 to 1988, and leading them to an AAU National Championship in 1976. Palmer's Shore Aquatic Club which he founded in 1961, became known as the Central Jersey Aquatic Club around 1972 when it merged with Rutger's swimming coach Frank Elm's Scarlet Jets, an AAU team. During his long coaching career which included coaching the Durango Masters after 1996, Palmer coached several American Olympic swimmers including 1968 Olympic team alternate Cathy Corcione, as well as 1976 Olympians Kathy Heddy, and gold medalist Wendy Boglioli. South African swimmer Jonty Skinner trained with Palmer at the Central Jersey Aquatic Club before becoming a world record holder in the 100-meter freestyle at the Senior AAU Nationals in Philadelphia in August, 1976.

References

  1. 1 2 "International Swimming Hall of Fame Bio, Nort Thornton (USA): 1995 Honor Coach". International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Olympedia Bio, Sean Killion". olympedia.org. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Monostra, Mike, 18 August 2016, Sun Newspapers, Cherry Hill Native Sean Killion Reflects Back on Olympics". thesunpapers.com. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Sutherland, James, 17 June 2018, John Carroll Removed as Head Coach of Jersey Wahoos". swimswam.com. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "February 2017, Watkins, Mike, USA Swimming, Olympian Sean Killion Helping People Find Jobs". usaswimming.org. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Callahan, Kevin, "Star Swimmer Killion Now Rides Ocean Waves", Courier Post, Camden, New Jersey, 24 October 2007, pg. 20
  7. ↑ Tufaro, Greg, "Falcons Want State Record", The Central New Jersey Home News, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 6 March 2004, pg. 32
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cabnet, Bob, "Cherry Hill Swimmer Pursues Dream", Courier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, 23 July 1992, pg. 69
  9. 1 2 "Overend, Riley, SwimSwam, August 2023, Killion Takes First Coaching Job at Mavericks Swimming". swimswam.com. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  10. ↑ Monostra, Mike. "Throwback Thursday: Cherry Hill native Sean Killion reflects back on Olympics, Killion swam for the United States in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.", Cherry Hill Sun, August 18, 2016. Accessed November 30, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Olympian Killian Hired by Rutgers", The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey, 30 September 1992, pg. 75
  12. ↑ "A 15-year Old Placentia Girl Tops Oldest Mark", The Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto, California, 28 July 1987, pg. 22
  13. ↑ HickokSports.com, Sports History, Pan American Games Archived 2012-12-05 at archive.today . Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  14. ↑ Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Sean Killion. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  15. ↑ "1992 Barcelona Olympic Results, 1,500 Meters Freestyle Finals, Men". olympedia.org. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  16. ↑ "From Cherry Hill to Barcelona to the real world", Courier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, 28 September 2005, pg. 74
  17. ↑ "USMS Top Ten, Sean Killion". usms.org. Retrieved September 30, 2004.
  18. ↑ "The Olympic Club Names 1992 Olympian Sean Killion Junior Team Head Coach". swimswam.com. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.