Chris Colburn, Ph.D.
Head Girls' Swimming and Diving Coach
Office Hours: midday breaks, preferably by appointment
(IM, email, or call ahead otherwise)
Office Phone: 630-907-5017
email: cmc@imsa.edu
AIM: DrCoachChris

The Fall 2008 season marks Chris's eighth year as Head Coach of the Girls' Swimming and Diving program. Chris has over fifteen years of swim coaching experience, and has worked with swimmers of all ages and ability levels, producing one NCAA Division III All-American, and a number of United States Masters Swimming (USMS) national champions, not to mention a handful of IMSA school records. Outside of IMSA Aquatics, Chris serves as Chair of the USMS Coaches Committee, as USMS On-Deck Coaching Coordinator, and locally as the Vice Chair and IT Director of the Illinois Masters Swimming Association. In 2008, Chris had a week-long series of workouts published in Swimming World, and in 2007, he published an article in USMS SWIMMER on a recent rule change in breaststroke. Chris' recent coaching interests involve quality-oriented sprint and distance training, stroke mechanics in all four competitive strokes, and dryland training specific to swimming. His main objectives are to make sure that swimmers learn something and make gains while both having fun and keeping swimming in perspective as a lifelong activity. As an athlete, Chris was a conference champion and Prep School All-American at Loyola Blakefield (MD), and was an NCAA Division III Honorable Mention All-American while representing Williams College (MA). When not at IMSA's pool, Chris works at the Academy as an IT Engineer and Linguistics instructor. He also coaches and competes with Academy Bullets Masters in Aurora.

Daidra Marano
Assistant Girls' Swimming Coach

Daidra Marano returns in 2008 for a second year as an Assistant Coach for the Girls' program. She began swimming competitively with the Shabbona Park Sharks at the age of 5, was mentored as a swimmer at Concordia College, and swam at Schaumburg High School. Daidra has continued her swimming career while swimming with Academy Bullets Masters. She has an athletic background and has trained for triathlons, counting among her racing experience many short-distance runs and the Chicago Marathon. She has been a swim instructor for several years and focuses on balancing stroke work, triathlon training, short/long distance, and core work. She has given stroke clinics at the Fox Valley YMCA and a Freestyle clinic for the Aurora YMCA Sharks. Daidra believes that each swimmer must be given personal attention, as it relates to their psychological focus, goals, and desires. Aside from her passion for swimming, Daidra has a Masters Degree in Forensic Psychology, and is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Forensic Psychology at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology.

Vicki Morrow
Diving Coach

Vicki Morrow is entering her third year as Diving Coach for the IMSA Girls' and Boys' swimming and diving teams. Vicki was the Captain of the University of Iowa Swimming & Diving Team and a member of Iowa's All Decade Women's Athletic Team. Vicki qualified and competed in NCAA Regionals and the Big Ten Championships on 1 meter and 3 meter all four years under the direction of current US Olympic Diving Team Coordinator Bob Rydze. Vicki was also an Academic All-American and a member of the All Big Ten Academic team all four years. She was a top finisher in the Illinois High School State Meet and spent her summers training with legendary diving coach Hobie Billingsley. In addition to coaching at IMSA, Vicki has coached the Consolidated Plainfield High School Diving Team (Plainfield, IL), the Raytown High School Boys' Diving Team (Raytown, MO) and taught lessons for nine years including a period with the DuPage Diving Academy. Vicki currently teaches in the "Partners for Success" program at the DuPage Regional Office of Education in Addison.