ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University Assistant Vice President of Athletics John Ashaolu announced Tuesday (April 22) that Ian Disteldorf has been hired as the next women's and men's swimming coach at Lewis University. Disteldorf joins Lewis after spending the last two seasons as the assistant swim coach at NCAA Division I University at Buffalo.

"I am very honored and excited to be chosen to be the next head swim coach at Lewis. Thank you to Assistant Vice President of Athletics John Ashaolu for this great opportunity," Disteldorf said. "I am most excited to build a strong relationship with the team and continue our success in the pool. I am also eager to be a part of the successful culture within the athletic department."

"We are thrilled to welcome Ian Disteldorf as the new head swim coach at Lewis University," Ashaolu said. "Ian's passion for the sport, dedication to developing champions both in and out of the water, and his ability to lead, empower, and connect with today's student-athletes make him the ideal fit to guide our program into an exciting new era. The future of Flyer Swimming has never looked brighter."

At Buffalo, Disteldorf helped lead the Bulls to a fourth-place finish at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championships the last two seasons. During those two seasons, three athletes were named First Team All-MAC, five received Second Team All-MAC honors, there was one MAC Swimmer of the Year, three schools records were broken and 25 Top Ten Times were posted.

There were 16 swimmers named to the Academic All-MAC Team. Both teams achieved the program's highest GPA in the fall and spring semesters. 

The team also achieved 13 College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) B Cuts, four CSCAA A Cuts and five CSCAA Relay A Cuts. The Bulls also had eight all-time top ten times and had an athlete break a school record.

Disteldorf's main responsibilities at Buffalo included recruiting for the classes of 2025 and 2026 as well as helping organize meals, creating dryland practices for the team and helped develop and lead the distance and 400 IM group in 2023-2024 and 400 IM, 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke group in 2024-2025. 

Before his time at Buffalo, Disteldorf served as the assistant swim and dive coach and strength conditioning coordinator at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana for two seasons.  During his tenure at Wabash, the team finished in third place at the 2022 North Coast Athletic Conference Championships and fourth place in 2023. 

Additionally, he created and developed practices for all groups on the swim team throughout the season while organizing team travel, food and lodging and coordination of home events. Along with those responsibilities, he developed and led the strength and conditioning program for the swim and dive team and assisted other coaches at the university with their strength and conditioning programs. 

"We are very excited to welcome Ian to the Lewis University coaching family," Associate Athletic Director of Compliance Ed Schaffer said. "His vision for the program along with his coaching philosophy are going to benefit our swimmers and enable them to continue to excel."

Disteldorf earned a Masters of Sports Science in coaching at the University of Akron in May, 2021 where he also served as a graduate assistant and director of operations for the swim team. During his time with the Zips, he helped lead the team to a second-place finish in the MAC Championships, broke two conference records, had four All-MAC First Team selections, a MAC Swimmer of the Year, a NCAA Qualifier and 16 Academic All-MAC selections. The Zips were Day One CSCAA National Invitational team champions as well.

He was the head recruiting coordinator at Akron. He also coordinated team trips, functions and meet set up while assisting in the design and implementation of dryland and swimming workouts.

"My early goals are to foster a positive team environment, deliver effective communication and to swim fast," Disteldorf said. 
 
Disteldorf graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois with a Bachelor's degree in finance and economics with a minor in accounting in May, 2017. He was a four-year letter winner with the Vikings, serving as the team captain in 2016 and 2017. He was named All-CCIW during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. 

After graduation, he became an assistant coach at Augustana from 2017-2019, where he developed and implemented practices focusing on specific stroke techniques and designs for both teams. During his tenure as assistant coach, he helped lead the men's team to their best College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) finish in six seasons, had 21 Academic All-CCIW members, four individual CCIW champions, six All-CCIW conference members, the CCIW Swimmer of the Year and three CSCAA All-Academic Team honors.

Disteldorf is originally from Oak Forest, Illinois and swam at Chicago Brother Rice High School.
 
A meet-and-greet introducing Disteldorf will be held on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, at noon at Neil Carey Arena. More information will be available soon. 

What They're Saying About Coach Disteldorf
Andy Bashor, Head Swimming Coach at University at Buffalo: "This is a great opportunity for Ian. He has done a tremendous job with being a coach and mentor for our team.  He is ready for this next step and will work hard at making Lewis University Swimming the best it can be."

Will Bernhardt, Head Swimming Coach/Aquatics Director at Wabash College: "I am beyond excited for Ian as he takes the reins at Lewis. Ian is one of the brightest and most talented young coaches throughout the entire country, regardless of division. He brings his passion, ingenuity and expertise to Romeoville which will result in growing phenomenal young men and women, not only in the pool but for life. This approach has been on display at every stop of his coaching career. In his time here he helped grow our program in leaps and bounds. He reinvented our weight lifting program to be more functional for swimmers and divers. He raised our performance in the pool by putting thoughtful practice plans together that helped our swimmers reach optimal performance. He implemented new strategies and ideas on how we successfully recruit the next class of great men. Ian has helped raise the level of competitiveness throughout our entire program by his athlete-first approach. It's this approach that gives me so much confidence in his leadership abilities. This is a fantastic hire and I look forward to following the Flyers as they ascend the ranks of DII Swimming and Diving."