Sara Elizabeth Lowe (born April 30, 1984), also known by her married name Sarah Lilly, was an All American competitor in synchronized swimming for Stanford University, and won a bronze medal in synchronized swimming team competition at the 2004 Athens Olympics. [1] From 2012-2018, she served as a highly successful synchronized swimming coach at Stanford, and in 2013 was inducted into the United States Synchronized Swimming Hall of Fame.[2][3]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sara Elizabeth Lowe | ||||||||||||||
| Born | April 30, 1984 (age 40) Desoto, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Synchronized swimming | ||||||||||||||
| College team | Stanford University | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Santa Clara Aquamaids | ||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Chris Carver (Santa Clara) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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High School era competition
editLowe was born in Desoto, Texas on April 30, 1984. She was exposed to synchronized swimming at a fairly young age as her mother had competed in the sport in college. She took her first synchronized Swimming course at Northlake College, a Community college in the Dallas, Fort-Worth area. She continued to train in synchronized swimming, and in 1999, at the age of 15, she moved to California to train with the Santa Clara Aquamaids, a nationally recognized program where she was coached by Head Coach Chris Carver and Assistant Coach Nancy Hines. Carver also coached the U.S. National Team for several years and had coached nearly all of the members of the 2004 U.S. Synchronized Swimming Team. In 2000, Lowe competed with her first National team. From 2000-2005, while competing with both the U.S. National Team and the Santa Clara Aquamaids, Lowe was a U.S. synchronized swimming All-American.[4][5][3]
Lowe won a gold in synchronized swimming in the August 2003 Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic.[2]
2004 Olympic bronze medal
editShe won an Olympic bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, in the synchronized swimming team competition with Russia taking the Gold, and Japan taking the silver.[1] The 2004 U.S. Olympic team was managed by Santa Clara Aquamaid's Assistant Coach Nancy Hines.[6]
Stanford University
editConsidered the most impactful member of Stanford's synchronized swimming team in the program's history, Lowe started her role as a student involved in Stanford Collegiate athletics in the fall of 2004, and graduated with a degree in communication in 2008. She was an All-American four-times, and a member of Stanford teams that won four consecutive U.S. Collegiate National Championships, while capturing the Collegiate High Point Athlete award each of her four years at Stanford. She served as captain during her sophomore, junior and senior years. She completed a Masters in Business Administration from St. Mary's College in Spring, 2017.[3]
Coaching
editBeginning in 2012, she served as a synchronized swimming coach at Stanford University, and became head coach in 2013. She served a total of four years as an assistant coach at Stanford, beginning to coach not long after her 2008 graduation from the University. .[7][8] In 2016, she guided the program to the U.S. Collegiate National Championship in Gainesville, Fla. In 2017, she coached the Stanford team to a second-place finish at the U.S. National Collegiate Championships in Columbus, Ohio, with the Ohio State team finishing first.[3] From around 2015-2018, she coached Stanford's synhcronized swimming team to three first-place finishes at the Western Regional Championships.[3]
Lowe served as a member of the Board of Directors for United States Synchronized Swimming from 2009 to 2012.[3]
Lowe produced 33 All-American synchronized swimmers at Stanford before retiring as Head Coach in June of 2016.[2]
In 2020, she was named Head Synchronized Swimming Coach at Texas Women's University in Denton, Texas, closer to her native town of Desoto, Texas.[7]
Honors
editAs an athlete, she was nominated for the United States Olympic Committee Sports Woman of the Year as a junior in 2007 and as a senior in 2008. She was named USA Synchronized Swimming Athlete of the Year twice.[3]
While at Stanford, in her Sophomore year, Lowe received the "Block S" Award from the Stanford Athletics Board as the outstanding female athlete. As a senior, she was chosen the Stanford Athelic Board's Female Athlete of the Year.[2]
An exceptional athlete and coach, in 2013 Lowe was inducted into the United States Synchronized Swimming Hall of Fame.[2]
She has twice been voted USA Synchro Coach of the year, once in 2013, and once in 2016.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sara Lowe". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "Palo Alto Online, Stanford University Hall of Fame inductees, Sarah Lowe". paloaltoonline.com. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Stanford University Athletics Synchronized Swimming Head Coach, Sara Lowe". gostanford.com. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
- ^ "Lowery, Dax, 22 March 2017, Swimming World Magazine Online, Synchro Q&A, Stanford Coach Sarah Lowe". swimmingworldmagazine.com.
- ^ "Santa Clara Artistic Swimming, Chris Carver". santaclaraartisticswimming.org. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
- ^ "Santa Clara Aquamaids Coaches, Nancy Hines". santaclaraartisticswimming.org. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
- ^ a b "Voice of Denton, Sarah Lowe Named Head Synchronized Swimming Coach at Texas Women's University". voiceof dention.com. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
- ^ "Stanford Wins U.S. National Collegiate Synchronized Championships". Swimming World. March 27, 2016.
Stanford head coach Sara Lowe
External links
edit- Stanford University Athletics Synchronized Swimming Head Coach, Sara Lowe
- Palo Alto Online, Stanford University Hall of Fame inductees, Sarah Lowe
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