After nearly four decades on the job, Lou Walker has coached a wide variety of athletes. Since taking over as the swimming and diving coach in 1976, Walker has overseen 35 senior nights and graduated hundreds of swimmers. He’s coached four-time All-Americans. He’s coached Big East conference champions. And he’s coached NCAA championship qualifiers.

‘We’ve had a lot of success here,’ Walker said after SU’s last home meet against Villanova and Providence on Feb. 4-5. ‘Not a lot of people pay attention to our glory years now, but we definitely had our fair share.’

Walker has coached Polish swimmers. He’s coached Russian swimmers. Some of these swimmers went on to become Olympians (Miroslav Vucetic, Djordje Filipovic). Some went on to win Emmy Awards with major television networks (Elyse McDonough).

But no matter where they ended up after their SU swimming careers, each swimmer enjoyed a certain degree of success during his or her collegiate days in Webster Pool. With the swimming program in the final stages of its slow ‘phase out,’ here’s a look at The Daily Orange’s Top 10 swimmers in Syracuse program history:

1. Miroslav Vucetic (1994-98)

Vucetic is one of four SU swimmers in program history to earn All-American honors four times. He owns seven program freestyle records and was the fastest swimmer on the only conference championship team SU has had in the last 27 years (1996). He was also the first SU swimmer to participate in the Olympics, swimming four races for Croatia in the 1996 Atlanta games.

2. Djordje Filipovic (1998-2002)

The heir apparent to Vucetic as SU’s best swimmer, Filipovic is the only swimmer in Syracuse history to hold at least 10 Big East individual championships. The versatile Serb swam the individual medley for his home country in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

3. Lou Walker (1971-75)

The coaching icon has done more than just shout instructions by the poolside during his SU career. As a freestyle and butterfly specialist, Walker was a two-time team captain. He also set seven school records.

4. Liz Vilbert (1977-81)

Vilbert is the first four-time All-American in program history. She qualified for the NCAA championships in 1981.

5. Luk Boral (2003-07)

The two-time Big East 200-yard breaststroke champion and NCAA qualifier is the only swimmer keeping current star Kuba Kotynia from being the best statistical breaststroke specialist in program history.

6. Elyse McDonough (2000-04)

The 2004 Big East champion in the women’s 200-yard butterfly, McDonough was the first SU female swimmer since 1981 to qualify for the NCAA championships.

7. Jose Gonzalez (1994-98)

The other great freestyle specialist on SU’s power teams of the mid-1990s holds three program records of his own.

8. Josko Vucetic (1997-2001)

The younger Vucetic sibling, a backstroke specialist, earned All-American honors (2001).

9. Robin Butler (1976-80)

The three-time All-American teamed with Vilbert to form the most dynamic female combo Walker ever coached. Butler was inducted into the SU Orange Plus Hall of Fame a year after Vilbert in 1982.

10. Kuba Kotynia (2007-11)

The Lodz, Poland, native will go down as one of the fastest breaststroke specialists in program history. He’s qualified for the Big East championships in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races every year, except as a freshman. Kotynia will also be remembered as the primary catalyst for keeping the program relevant during its four-year ‘phase-out’ period.

— Jarrad Saffren, staff writer, jdsaffre@syr.edu

Published on February 15, 2011 at 12:00 pm