Stony Brook University Athletics

Mark Anderson was elevated to swimming and diving head coach on a permanent basis in March of 2022. Anderson led the team as the interim head coach during the 2021-22 campaign and has since entered his third season at the helm of the program in 2024-25.

This past season, the Seawolves found their most success at the ECAC Championships, earning 16 top five finishes. Sara DiStefano, Natalia Chornomidza, and Mykayla Lavery swept the 1-meter dive competition as DiStefano captured victory in the 3-meter dive. Francesca Baber earned four individual wins, as the team of Michelle Vu, Brenna Mowrey, Alanna DePinto, and Baber claimed first place in the 400-freestyle relay. Under Anderson’s leadership, Stony Brook swimming and diving earned their lone win of the season over Manhattan as DiStefano broke the 1-meter dive program record with a score of 304.45. To close out the season at the CAA’s, DePinto captured the 100-breastroke program record with a time of 1:03.99 and Aili Talcott with the 200-breaststroke program record, logging a time of 2:20.28. Finding success in the pool and in the classroom, the team earned CSCAA Scholar All-America Team honor as Clara Armstrong and Sara Baxter were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.  

In 2023-24, the Seawolves earned a pair of regular season victories before a second-place finish at the ECAC Championships. Anderson guided the  Stony Brook squad to a 3-3 overall record on the season. At the CAA Championships, Baxter, Conway, DePinto, and Vu broke the program record in the 400-medley relay. At the conclusion of the season, Armstrong, Baxter, Mary Kate Conway, and Jocelyn Lichwick all earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors as the Seawolves’ squad was selected to the CSCAA Scholar All-America Team.

In Anderson's first full season as head coach (2022-23), he led the team to a season-opening victory over Sacred Heart at University Pool. The squad picked up a win in a road meet at Siena before placing sixth in the ECAC Championships. After finishing the year 4-2 overall, Anderson and the Seawolves participated at the program's first CAA Championships as the newest member of the league. Vu posted a standout performance on day three, breaking a 12-year record in the first leg of the 200-freestyle relay.

Over the course of Anderson's season as interim head coach in 2021-22, the Seawolves had their fair share of success. The squad picked up their first dual meet win of the season by defeating St. Francis Brooklyn, 178.5-118.5, on November 13. The win marked the first of Anderson’s head coaching career. Anderson guided the Seawolves to a 4-2 record in dual meets, adding victories over Siena, St. Joseph’s (L.I.) and Rider. Stony Brook recorded a standout first-place finish at the Blue Devil Invite at the beginning of December. The Seawolves totaled 626 points and finished in first out of a five-team field. Stony Brook registered eight first-place finishes in the meet and set six meet records in the process.
  
The Seawolves concluded their season by putting forth a strong showing at the ECAC Championship in Annapolis, Md. Stony Brook recorded a sixth-place finish racking up 243 points as it took part in the 19-team championship meet. The team set four new program records at the meet as Jessica Salmon (100 & 200 breast), Conway (200 fly), and the 400 medley relay squad comprised of Reagan MacDonald, Salmon, Maddy Enda, and Conway etched their names into the record book.
 
Stony Brook divers DiStefano and Mia Sclar qualified for the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships and competed on the national stage on March 7. 
 
Following the season, Conway was named to the America East All-Academic Team for her work in the classroom and in the pool. Academics continued to be at the forefront of the program, seeing the team post a cumulative 3.25 GPA in the fall 2021 semester.

As an assistant in 2020-21, Anderson helped lead the Seawolves to a pair of podium finishes in the 200 free and 400 medley relays at the 2021 America East Championship. Briana Liew, Lara Youssef, and Conway, all freshmen at the time, joined Emma Waechter to earn bronze in the 200 free, while Youssef, Conway and MacDonald, joined Amanda Heinz to earn bronze during the 400 medley relay.
 
In his first year as an assistant with the Seawolves during the 2019-20 campaign, he made an immediate impact, helping three swimmers earn A final appearances at the America East Championship, including eventual 100 fly champion Michal Liberman. She also broke the school record in the race and ECAC Winter Championship record.
 
Anderson is also the head coach at Three Village Swim Club in East Setauket, N.Y., where he has worked since 2012. Anderson was also a coach at The University of Michigan’s Wolverine Swim camp, learning from influential coaches such as Bob Bowman, Jon Urbanchek, Mike Bottom, Mark Hill and Jim Richardson.
 
Anderson swam collegiately for the Seawolves under coaches Dave Alexander and Chris Brandenberger, earning his degree in Environmental Health and Safety in 2013.