{"id":6900,"date":"2024-03-25T11:13:48","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T17:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?p=6900"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:13:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T17:13:49","slug":"the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/","title":{"rendered":"The first leader for swimming and diving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Impact, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); white-space-collapse: collapse;\">Victoria Gonzalez | Vaquero Radio<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"571\" src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM-1024x571.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6901\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM-1024x571.png 1024w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM-768x428.png 768w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM.png 1108w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Courtesy photo of UTRGV Athletics<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/betsy-graham.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">UTRGV Athletics welcomed Betsy Graham, the first head women\u2019s swimming and diving coach, during a news conference Wednesday via Zoom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vice President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque said how excited he is to welcome Graham to the Rio Grande Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cHere we are starting yet another program, starting women\u2019s swimming and diving,\u201d Conque said. \u201cWe had great interest, great national interest, but from the very beginning, coach Graham stood out. She brings so much to the table.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With over 30 years of coaching experience, she was also a student-athlete during her high school and college years. In 2006, she started her own men\u2019s swimming and diving program at Catawba College in North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having to deal with less than a full calendar year to prepare a brand new swimming team, Graham addressed the responsibilities this carries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cI think the challenge right now is that most of the recruiting for \u201924 has been done,\u201d Graham said. \u201cHowever, I\u2019ve definitely just in the last couple of days have found some very good recruits and talent that is still, you know, looking for a home.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Alongside building the first women\u2019s swimming and diving program in UTRGV history, Graham shared what she looks for in student-athletes when recruiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cI look for the athletes who have a strong background in academics,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be the people that want to get their degree, be good in the pool and just be all around good people.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Graham said the program\u2019s door is open to everybody. She sent a message to high school athletes wanting to continue their career after graduating with her to be strong competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is Victoria Gonzalez for Vaquero Radio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victoria Gonzalez | Vaquero Radio UTRGV Athletics welcomed Betsy Graham, the first head women\u2019s swimming and diving coach,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":6901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,578],"tags":[68,44,46,194,42,629,26],"class_list":["post-6900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-swimming","tag-edinburg","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-spring","tag-students","tag-swim","tag-utrgv"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The first leader for swimming and diving - The Valley&#039;s Student Station<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The first leader for swimming and diving - The Valley&#039;s Student Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Victoria Gonzalez | Vaquero Radio UTRGV Athletics welcomed Betsy Graham, the first head women\u2019s swimming and diving coach,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-25T17:13:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-25T17:13:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1108\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"618\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria Gonzalez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Victoria Gonzalez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Victoria Gonzalez\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/436e807e4dd8b4952bbb3f2c72aaac7b\"},\"headline\":\"The first leader for swimming and diving\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-25T17:13:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-25T17:13:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/\"},\"wordCount\":300,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Edinburg\",\"NEWS\",\"SPORTS\",\"Spring\",\"Students\",\"Swim\",\"UTRGV\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\",\"Swimming\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/\",\"name\":\"The first leader for swimming and diving - The Valley&#039;s Student Station\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-25T17:13:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-25T17:13:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The first leader for swimming and diving\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":946,\"caption\":\"The Valley&#039;s Student Station\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/436e807e4dd8b4952bbb3f2c72aaac7b\",\"name\":\"Victoria Gonzalez\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd444c833eaa7f4a78eeec70dc50285492934cec153a39690eef55d09573ca0e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd444c833eaa7f4a78eeec70dc50285492934cec153a39690eef55d09573ca0e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Victoria Gonzalez\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/author\/victoria-gonzalez\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The first leader for swimming and diving - The Valley&#039;s Student Station","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The first leader for swimming and diving - The Valley&#039;s Student Station","og_description":"Victoria Gonzalez | Vaquero Radio UTRGV Athletics welcomed Betsy Graham, the first head women\u2019s swimming and diving coach,","og_url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/","og_site_name":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station","article_published_time":"2024-03-25T17:13:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-25T17:13:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1108,"height":618,"url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Victoria Gonzalez","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Victoria Gonzalez","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/"},"author":{"name":"Victoria Gonzalez","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/436e807e4dd8b4952bbb3f2c72aaac7b"},"headline":"The first leader for swimming and diving","datePublished":"2024-03-25T17:13:48+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-25T17:13:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/"},"wordCount":300,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM.png","keywords":["Edinburg","NEWS","SPORTS","Spring","Students","Swim","UTRGV"],"articleSection":["Sports","Swimming"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/","name":"The first leader for swimming and diving - The Valley&#039;s Student Station","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-25-at-12.11.34-PM.png","datePublished":"2024-03-25T17:13:48+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-25T17:13:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/the-first-leader-for-swimming-and-diving\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The first leader for swimming and diving"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/","name":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#organization","name":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/output-onlinepngtools-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":946,"caption":"The Valley&#039;s Student Station"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/436e807e4dd8b4952bbb3f2c72aaac7b","name":"Victoria Gonzalez","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd444c833eaa7f4a78eeec70dc50285492934cec153a39690eef55d09573ca0e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd444c833eaa7f4a78eeec70dc50285492934cec153a39690eef55d09573ca0e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Victoria Gonzalez"},"url":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/author\/victoria-gonzalez\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6903,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6900\/revisions\/6903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}