Dee Dlugonski, a former All-American swimmer at Penn State, enters her second year as an assistant coach at her alma mater. She returned to Penn State last year after one year away from Happy Valley to take over for former assistant Nittaya Klim, who accepted the job of head women[apos]s swimming coach at the University of Akron.
Dlugonski assists with all areas of the program, including individual workouts and recruiting.
Prior to returning to Penn State, she spent a year as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Connecticut. The Huskies had a dual meet record of 5-2-1 and also finished first at the Terrapin Cup and sixth at the Big East Championships during her season at UConn.
An NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient and a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year award in 2005, Dlugonski was also a 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American and was a four-time Academic All-America selection by the College Swimming Coaches Association (CSCAA). She was also a three-time winner of the Ellen Perry Academic Achievement Award, which is given annually to the student-athlete that has attained the highest level of academic excellence through the season, and a two-time winner of the Jerome Weinstein Coaches[apos] Award.
Just as impressive in the pool as she was in the classroom during her career, Dlugonski holds six school records and a Big Ten record. She holds the school record in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle and was a part of four relay teams that currently hold school records in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays as well as the 200 and 400 medley relays. The 400 medley relay team also holds the Big Ten record. She is a nine-time All-American and a seven-time Big Ten champion. The medley relay teams she swam on finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships in each of her four years on the team, highlighted by a fourth place finish by the 400 medley relay team in 2004. Dlugonski was also a member of two Big Ten Championship teams at Penn State.
Dlugonski graduated as the Marshall of the College of Health and Human Development/Kinesiology with the highest grade point average (3.96) in the Kinesiology Department. She graduated ranked first in a class of 114 in the Department of Kinesiology, and 17th in a class of 909 in the College of Health and Human Development.