Lara Preacco - Swimming & Diving Coach - Florida Atlantic University Athletics

Photo by: Mauricio Paiz

Lara Preacco

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
lpreacco@fau.edu
Phone:
561-376-7562

Former Florida Atlantic swimmer Lara Preacco, Ph.D., joined the men's and women's coaching staff in May of 2012 as an assistant, and two years later, was elevated to head coach. Preacco has held the position of head coach since 2014.

The 2024-25 campaign saw the men's and women's teams sweep the midseason Patriot Invitational for the second straight season, with both teams finishing at top of the podium. At the conference championships, in just their second Atlantic Sun Championship appearance, the men's team finished as runners-up, finishing the meet with six gold, nine silver, and four bronze for a total of 19 medals. Isac Faxius walked away with the honor of ASUN Male Most Outstanding Diver. On the women's side in the AAC, Megan Drover-Smith picked up a silver medal while setting a new school record with a time of 1:55.88 in the 200 back. Senior Dolores Margni swam herself to a silver medal in the 200 fly with a time of 1:59.57. Sophia Clack won the inaugural AAC Freshman Diver of the Week award and won an additional one later in the season. In total between the men's and women's teams, 11 new program records were set over the course of the season.

In 2023-24, Preacco led the men's and women's teams to a sweep in their midseason Patriot Invitational, with both taking first place in their respective fields. At the conference championships, the men earned third place in their first Atlantic Sun Championship appearances with seven bronze medals. On the women's side in the AAC, they tallied a fifth-place finish with five total medals. Alicia Mora earned a bronze medal on the 1-meter, Dolores Margni took bronze in the 200 fly, and Bry Bellile earned the silver medal in the 200 free. In total, 14 new program records were set over the course of the season.

Mora became the first Owl to qualify for the NCAA Championships in consecutive seasons, this time on both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives.

During the 2022-23 season, Preacco oversaw the Owls' second consecutive second-place finish in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Championships. In addition, she guided the women's team through their first American Athletic Conference Championships in which they finished in seventh place, where freshman Amelia Robertson earned a bronze medal in the 200 back. In total, the Owls set 10 school records over their conference championships.

On the diving board, Alicia Mora became the first Owl since 2017 to qualify for the NCAA Championships and earned bronze medals on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards at the AAC Championships.

In the 2021-22 season, Preacco led the Owls to a second-place finish on the men's side in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Championships with 903.5 points. In the conference championships, Preacco guided Rateb Hussein to Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet honors, while Timo Paisley earned Most Outstanding Freshman of the Meet . Hussein was also named CCSA Men's Swimmer of the Year. The women's side swam to fifth place in the Conference USA Championships. Preacco's Owls posted several record-breaking performances throughout the course of the season, setting nine school records and 12 FAU freshman records.

At the 2021 Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Swimming & Diving Championships, the men’s team finished as the runner-up with 984 points and 22 medals, the most medals the program has received at a conference championship. This marked the second time in three years the team had finished as the conference runner-up. The team also racked up several superlative post-meet awards, including Josh Fountain who was named CCSA Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet and Logan Downey who was named CCSA Most Outstanding Diver of the Meet. Downey was also tabbed CCSA Diver of the Year for the second consecutive year.

The women’s team earned a fourth-place finish at the Conference USA Swimming & Diving Championships. Alicia Mora gathered bronze finishes in each of her events, the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform, and freshman Nika Culina earned bronze medals in the 100 and 200 breast, while breaking FAU freshman records in each. At the end of the season, Selina Staudenherz was tabbed C-USA Freshman Diver of the Year.

In 2019-20, the women’s team finished in third place at the 2020 C-USA Championships. This feat marked the best finish for the Owls in a C-USA Championship, as well as the best placing at a conference championship since 2007-08 when the Owls were a part of the Sun Belt Conference.

On the men’s side, the team earned a third-place finish at the 2020 CCSA Championships behind 14 podium performances. That season, Preacco guided Rateb Hussein to break two school records (100 fly and 200 fly) and the 400 medley relay team (Kyle Douglas, Quinn LaCoursiere, Hussein and Connor Smoak) also broke a school record in the event. Three different Owls on the men’s side received CCSA Weekly honors, which included Hussein (four-time 2019-20 selection), Michael Cannatelli (two-time selection) and Downey (four-time selection), who was also the CCSA Diver of the Year.

Under Preacco's leadership, the men's team was the runner up at the 2019 CCSA Championships. This feat marked the best finish in a conference championship for the team in over 20 years.

Preacco’s student-athletes are well-rounded in the pool, classroom and community. Both teams are coming off the past fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters being tabbed as a College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American Team. Five different student-athletes have been named to the C-USA All-Academic Team and the men recently earned back-to-back honors for the CCSA Scholar Athlete of the Year award with Clay Riemenschneider earning it in 2019-20 and Connor Hodges in 2018-19. Additionally, Preacco has had eight different student-athletes receive Honorable Mention to the CSCAA Scholar All-American Team.

Preacco swam for the Owls from 1994 to 1998 when the University was in the early stages of Division I status. She was also an assistant coach for the team from 1998-2001, while earning her master's degree. She represented both FAU and her home country of Switzerland at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and was inducted into the FAU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010. Preacco is the second member of an FAU coaching staff, along with former swimming assistant coach Oliver Agh, to be both an FAU Athletics Hall-of-Famer and a former Olympic competitor.

Prior to coming to FAU, Preacco set five Swiss national records and captured 38 gold medals while competing at the Swiss National Championships from 1983 to 1997. At FAU, she was team MVP in 1995-96 and team captain the following season.

Besides her impressive résumé in the pool, Preacco also earned Honorable Mention in the All-American Scholar Excellence rankings, while placing on the FAU Dean's List four times and President's List three times. She earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees from the school, and obtained her doctorate in counseling psychology from Western Michigan University.

Preacco’s Head Coaching Highlights

Thirty-Seven Conference Champions
Three NCAA Championships participants
Thirty-four school record holders
Two CUSA Newcomer of the Year awards
Two CUSA Freshman Diver of the Year awards
Three CCSA Diver of the Year awards
Two CCSA Scholar Athlete of the Year titles
Six CCSA post-meet awards (CCSA Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet and CCSA Most Outstanding Diver of the Meet)
18 CSCAA Scholar All-American Team distinction for women’s swimming & diving
11 CSCAA Scholar All-American Team honors for men’s swimming & diving
Eight CSCAA Scholar All-American Honorable Mention recipients
Five CUSA All-Academic Team recipients
Nineteen CCSA Swimmer of the Week and 31 CCSA Diver of the Week award winners
Seven CUSA Swimmer of the Week and eight C-USA Diver of the Week awards
Two AAC Diver of the Week Awards
Two AAC Freshman Diver of the Week Awards
One AAC Freshman Swimmer of the Week