Ljone Named UNM Head Women's Swimming Coach

Ljone served as an assistant to former coach Bill Spahn this past season

Tracy Ljone has been named the UNM head swim coach after spending the past season as an assistant coach to Bill Spahn.
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May 5, 2005

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The University of New Mexico announced today Tracy Ljone as the new head women's swim coach. Ljone, pronounced lee-own, joined the New Mexico staff prior to the start of the 2004-05 season as an assistant coach under Bill Spahn. Spahn retired April 1, 2005 after 24 years as the Lobos' head coach.

"We are very excited for Tracy to be the head coach of our swimming team," UNM Senior Woman Administrator Janice Ruggiero said. "She is an up and coming young coach and we know that she will make an immediate impact with the program."

"I'm thrilled about the opportunity to be the head coach at UNM," Ljone said. "The ladies are a great bunch of student-athletes and I am excited to work with them in the years to come."

Before her days at New Mexico, Ljone was the head swim coach at Georgia Southern University from 1999-2002 and compiled a 13-10 overall record. In Ljone's three years, GSU swimmers recorded 96 percent of the top individual times in program history. In 2000, she led Georgia Southern to a second place finish in the Southern Conference Championships.

Before taking the head coaching role, Ljone worked as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Georgia Southern. She also served as a strength and conditioning coach at Arizona State University and the University of South Carolina.

Ljone was a four-year letterwinner on the swim team at South Carolina from 1993-97. During her collegiate swimming career, Ljone garnered several accolades. She was recognized on the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll from 1994-97 and was a three-time NCAA All-Academic Team selection. She earned her B.S. in Exercise Science from USC in 1997 and received her master's in Sports Management from Georgia Southern in 1999. Ljone is currently completing her Ph.D. in Sports Administration at UNM.