Sonya Porter
5/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Sonya Porter
Associate Head Coach
* 5th Season at Alabama
Everywhere Sonya Porter has been, the program has made an immediate and dramatic improvement and her return to Alabama and the Crimson Tide has been no exception. Porter, now in her fifth year as associate head coach, has made a marked difference in the Tide’s fortunes, with all indications pointing to even more improvements this year and in seasons to come.
Since her return, Alabama has posted five top-25 finishes, including back-to-back-to-back top-15 finishes by the men in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Individually the Tide’s Vlad Polyakov won the 2006 FINA World Championship in the 200 breaststroke as well as the 2007 and 2005 NCAA titles, missing the NCAA record in 2007 by mere hundredths of a second.
Porter’s first stint with Alabama came as she was getting her bachelor’s degree in physiology and human performance with a minor in biology in the early ??90s. She was part of the Crimson Tide coaching staff in 1994 when the men and the women both finished in the top-10 for the first time since 1986. Porter saw the Tide post two top-10 finishes and four in the top-20 between the men and the women.
After graduation in December of 1996, Porter made her way to Colorado State where she began work on a master’s degree in cardiopulmonary physiology and exercise science while serving as a volunteer assistant with the Rams.
Porter became an assistant coach at Northwestern University in September of 1997, heading up the Wildcat’s sprint program that led the program to three straight top-10 NCAA finishes including a sixth place finish in 2000. Porter coached Amy Balcerzak-Field and Courtney Allen to runner-up NCAA finishes in the 100 breaststroke and 50 freestyle respectively. Northwestern’s 200 freestyle relay was the nation’s No. 1 seed going into the 1999 NCAAs. In three years with the Wildcats, she coached 16 All-American, 10 Academic All-Americans and 16 Big-10 Champs.
After Northwestern, she rejoined Eric McIlquham, who she had coached with at Alabama, at West Virginia for the 2001 season, helping the Mountaineers to their best season in 15 years.
In March of 2001, she became head coach of the University of Louisville women’s team. A year later she added the men’s team to her duties.
Porter coached U.S. National Team members Courtney Allen, Amy Balcerzak-Field and Ashley Mosher. Balcerzak-Field was fourth in the 100 breaststroke at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials, the American record holder in the 50 breaststroke and high point scorer in the 2000-01 World Cup circuit. Porter coached athletes to five gold medals at the 1999 World University Games. She coached former Alabama standout Rania Elwani at the 1999 World Short Course Championships in Hong Kong. And since 1997, she served as a member of the Swiss National Team coaching staff, coaching at the 1997 World Championships and the 2002 European Championships.
Porter coached club swimming in her native Australia, starting as an assistant coach with the Victoria Park/Carlisle S.A. in 1991 and 1992 and becoming head coach of the Wooden Valley Swimming club in 1993.
After studying exercise physiology and human performance at the University of Canberra in Australia, she came to Alabama in the summer of 1993.
Academics are obviously important to Porter. She graduated Cum Laude from Alabama and was awarded a fellowship for outstanding research at Colorado State.
Her emphasis on academics carries over to her athletes. Her Northwestern swimmers were national and conference honor roll regulars and all her Louisville teams earned Academic All-American status.
