Alumnus Matt Bos was named the new head coach for the men’s and women’s swimming program by Eastern athletic director Barbara Burke on Wednesday.

Bos replaces Ray Padovan who retired in May after 42 years at Eastern.

For the past three years, Bos has been acting as the head swim coach for the San Antonio Wave.

During his time with the swim club, Bos has coached several Junior and Senior National qualifiers including Jimmy Feigen who has set two National High School records. Feigen recently competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. Feigen was ranked no. 28 in the 50-meter freestyle and 40th in the 100-meter freestyle. Unfortunately, he was unable to make it to the semi-final round.

Before coaching in San Antonio, Bos worked as the coaching director at Swimming Wanganui in New Zealand for a year and a half.

He coached athletes from seven different countries with his squad earning a Top 20 national ranking in 2004-05 making it the squad’s first.

Although he has coached overseas, Bos is no stranger to Eastern.

He is an American Swimming Coaches Association level four certified coach and has earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastern while being a member of the Panther swim team from 1996-2000.

He was a two-time Midwest Champion in the breaststroke and was named team captain his senior year in 2000.

He also helped the Panthers to the 2002 Midwest Classic Championship as a graduate assistant.

After leaving Eastern in 2002, he became the assistant coach at Trinity University for a year. In 2003-04, he hailed as the head coach for the Swordfish Swim Team and assistant coach for Niles West High School in Skokie.

Bos has also served as a camp director with his wife, Amanda, for Swim with the Stars, which is a swim camp owned by Olympians Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker and Lenny Krayzelburg.

OVC bring in Broncs

The Ohio Valley Conference Board approved the addition of the University of Texas-Pan American as an associate member in men’s track and field beginning in the 2008-2009 season.

The board made this decision in their annual Conference Spring Meeting this past May.

The UTPA, which is located in Edinburg, Texas, will participate in the OVC Outdoor Championship starting next year.

The Broncs are currently participating as a Division I Independent and will become the third athletic squad at their university to become affiliated with a conference.

The men’s tennis team is currently part of the Southland Conference while the men’s and women’s basketball teams are part of the United Basketball Conference.

According to the Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations Kyle Schwartz, this move is to make up for the loss of Samford in the OVC.

This means that the number of men’s outdoor track teams is moved to six after Samford left the conference this past year.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has joined the OVC, but will not be able to compete in the OVC championships until the academic year of 2012-13.

“When Samford left the conference there were only five teams on the men’s side,” Swartz said. “SIUE will be joining the conference next year, but will be not be able to compete in the championships.”

If there were only five teams, then there would be no automatic qualifying.

An automatic qualification means the winner of each event automatically gets a bid to the NCAA Regional Meet. Athletes can also make it to the NCAA Regional if they obtain the qualifying time or mark.

Since UTPA moves the number of men’s teams competing to six, the meet will keep its automatic qualifying status.

The Broncs will not be competing in the OVC Indoor Championships because there is no automatic qualifying for the indoor meet since there is no indoor NCAA Regional.

Athletes must obtain the qualifying mark or time in order to advance to the NCAA Indoor Championships.

The men’s teams competing for the OVC Indoor Championships will remain at four since Samford left the conference and Morehead State dropped both their men’s and women’s indoor season.

Baseball alum All-Star

Former Panther Kyle Haines has been named an Eastern League All-Star.

Haines is currently playing for the San Francisco Giants’ Double-A affiliate Connecticut Defenders.

Haines was signed to the Giants in 2004 and this will be his first All-Star appearance.

As of July 8, the second baseman is batting .312 with 20 runs batted in and a .411 on base percentage.

Haines will represent the Northern Division, which is to take on the Southern Division July 16 in Manchester, N.H. at the home field of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

The Defenders are currently in fourth place in the Northern Division with a record of 45-44, and have won nine of their last 10 games.

Haines played shortstop for Eastern from 2003-2004 after he transferred from Olney Central College. He was named First Team All-OVC in 2004 and was drafted by the Giants that June in the MLB First-Year Player Draft where he was promoted to the Double-A level in 2007.

Molly Clutter can be reached at 581-7944 or at mkclutter@eiu.edu.