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Head Coach and Olympian, Courtney Shealy Hart

A two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, a five-time NCAA Champion and the 2000 NCAA Women’s National Swimmer of the Year, Courtney Shealy Hart was named the head coach of the Yellow Jackets’ swimming and diving programs on April 30, 2009. Hart, who was a Georgia Tech assistant coach for two years from 2007-09, is the eighth head coach in the history of the program.

Thanks in part to deep recruiting classes and the development of talent, Hart has steadily built Georgia Tech into a program that can compete in the nationally recognized Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Since taking over the reins of the program, both the men’s and women’s teams have consistently increased its points total at the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships each year.

Hart has presided over a fantastic stretch for the Tech program that has seen multiple men’s swimmers compete in eight NCAA Championships since taking over the program before the start of the 2009-10 season. Since 2009, a total of 20 program records have been established multiple times on the men’s team and a total of 18 program records in both swimming and diving for the women’s team.

The success has extended beyond the pool as the Yellow Jackets have annually been one of the nation’s top academic swimming & diving programs. The men’s swimming & diving team has earned APR Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA in 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16, while both the men’s and women’s programs annually earn CSCAA scholar all-America team honors.

Hart spent one season as an assistant coach at North Florida in 2006-07 prior to arriving on The Flats where she served as an assistant coach from 2007-09. She helped guide North Florida to a fifth-place finish at the Pacific Coast Swimming Conference Championships and led nine individuals to top-16 finishes at the meet. She also guided one student-athlete to a top-eight finish in the conference championship meet.

Hart’s long list of accomplishments include:

39 NCAA Championships participants
Five NCAA all-Americans
Nine ACC Individual Champions
17 all-Conference performers
Countless school records broken

Before heading into the coaching scene, Hart participated in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games for the United States. She took home a pair of gold medals in Sydney, Australia, in the 400 meter medley relay and 400 meter freestyle relay.

Hart also competed on the international scene in the Pan-American Games (1999, 2003), Pan Pacific (2002) and the United States World Cup Teams (2000-04).

At the University of Georgia, Hart led the Bulldogs to back-to-back NCAA team championships in 1999 and 2000. She was named the 2000 NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year after capturing individual national titles in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 back. She also captured NCAA titles as a member of the 400 free relay and 400 medley relay teams. She finished her NCAA career with 26 All-America honors, the most in UGA history, plus two more honorable mention citations.

Hart won nine individual Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles, 10 SEC relay crowns and set five conference records. She was named the SEC Female Swimmer of the Year in 2000.

In the pool, her accomplishments include:

Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist
26 NCAA all-America honors
2000 NCAA National Swimmer of the Year
2000 SEC Swimmer of the Year
Five-time NCAA Champion
19-time SEC Champion
Georgia Aquatic Hall of Famer
Irmo High School Hall of Famer

After graduating from Georgia in 2001 cum laude with a degree in sports studies/communications, Hart worked as a motivational speaker for the NCAA, Coca-Cola, Healthsouth and Arby’s, and served as the director of the Golden West Swim Lessons Program in Huntington Beach, Calif., before heading to North Florida.

In the summer of 2013, Hart was inducted in to the Georgia Aquatic Hall of Fame, signifying both her achievements as a collegiate all-American and National Swimmer of the Year at the University of Georgia and as a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist. She was also inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.

Hart, who earned her master’s degree in sports administration from Georgia in 2005, was inducted into the Irmo High School Hall of Fame in September 2017.

Hart and her husband, Justin, have two children – Jackson and Mara.

Yun Qu has been with the Yellowjackets for three years and coaches the distance program.

Qu is no stranger to the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, having competed in the venue for her native China at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games and finishing fourth in the 200m fly.

In the 1994 World Championships in Rome, she was the silver-medalist in both the 100m and 200m butterfly, a year after ranking No. 1 in the world and setting an Asian record in the 200m fly (2:08.53), and ranking No. 2 in the world in the 100m fly (59.27).

Qu came to Georgia Tech after five years as the associate head men's and women's swimming coach at SUNY-Binghamton. Her previous coaching stints have included Iowa State for two seasons, and Ithaca College for one.

She attended Shenzhen University in Shenzhen, China for two years, and then enrolled at SUNY-Binghamton where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2005 with a B.S. degree in human development. Qu received her M.S. in exercise science from Ithaca in 2006.

Francisco ‘Chico’ Rego enters his first season as assistant coach with Georgia Tech swimming and diving, having been officially announced on Sept. 9, 2019.

Rego joins the Yellow Jackets with nearly 15 years of coaching experience, both on the world’s stage for Brazil and in Auburn. He’s coached swimmers to more than 15 national championship and world championship medals, as well as nearly 100 state championship medals.

“I’m thrilled to be able to welcome Francisco to Georgia Tech and our program,” head coach Courtney Shealy Hart said. “What ‘Chico’ has been able to accomplish both internationally and here in the U.S. makes him the perfect fit to help mentor our swimmers and continue our recruiting momentum.”

Rego comes to The Flats after spending the last two years in Greenville, S.C., coaching Team Greenville swim club to both its first long-course and short-course state championships in more than 14 years. While in Greenville, Rego was also elected to be the head coach of the 2019 South Carolina Zones Team, where he led them to its best finish in history (fourth).

Prior to Team Greenville, Rego coached for two-plus years at Auburn and with the Auburn Pro Team “Tiger Elite” club. During that time, Rego coached a myriad of world-class swimmers, including Kevin Cordes (multi-time medalist in Budapest 2017; gold medal in Rio 2016), Marcelo Chierighini (silver medal in Budapest 2017; finalist in Rio 2016) and Felipe Lima (finalist in Budapest ’17; bronze medal at Short Course World Championships in 2016).

“First, I want to thank Courtney and the entire coaching staff for the process and for welcoming me to Georgia Tech,” Rego said. “I’m incredibly excited to be joining a place like the Institute, where both the academics and athletics operate at an elite level. I’m ready to hit the ground running and get working with one of the fastest-growing programs in the country.”

Angie Nicolletta was announced as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech on July 31, 2019.

Nicolletta joins the Yellow Jackets after spending three years as an assistant coach for the swimming and diving program at Alabama. She also served as the recruiting coordinator for the women’s program.

“We’re extremely excited to have Angie on board here at Georgia Tech,” head coach Courtney Shealy Hart said. “Her years of experience recruiting and coaching at the highest level, in addition to her time competing in Conference USA, will make her a valuable addition to our staff and our team as we look to continue our program’s momentum.”

Prior to Alabama, the Marietta, Ga. native spent four years coaching at Vanderbilt, helping lead the Commodore’s recruiting efforts, and a season at the Air Force Academy, where she helped the Falcons break five school records at the Mountain West Championships. She began coaching as a head site coach of the Stingrays Swimming Club in Marietta, as well as an assistant coach at two of the country’s premier swim clubs, Lakeside Seahawks and Nashville Aquatic Club.

“I’m thrilled to be able to return home to Atlanta and join Georgia Tech and the Yellow Jacket family,” Nicolletta said. “I want to thank Courtney, Bill, John and Mike for welcoming me in and I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running with our team.”

Nicolletta was a standout swimmer at Louisville before coaching, setting school records in the 200 fly and as part of the 200 free, 400 medley and 400 free relays. She also scored numerous top-five finishes for Louisville at Conference USA Championships, competing mainly in sprint freestyle and butterfly events.

Nicolletta earned a bachelor’s degree in sports administration from Louisville in 2005.

Two-time all-American swimmer Temarie Tomley enters her first year on the Georgia Tech swimming and diving staff as assistant coach, it was announced on Aug. 23, 2023.

Tomley joins the Yellow Jackets after spending two years as an assistant coach for the swimming and diving program at George Washington University.

“We’re thrilled to be able to add Temarie to our coaching staff,” Toni M. and Richard L. Bergmark Swimming and Diving Head Coach Hart said. “She brings a tremendous amount of success from her time in the pool at Alabama and as a top-30 qualifier for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, and from her time as a coach at George Washington where she helped lead them to back-to-back conference championships. I’m excited for the impact she’ll have on our entire team.”

White at George Washington, the men’s and women’s teams both were conference champions each of the two years Tomley was on staff. While assisting with the 50, 100, and 200 sprint specialties, GW had two student-athletes that competed in the NCAA Championships her first and second year. In addition to her work in the pool, she also assisted with women’s recruiting, business operations, volunteer management, technology and filming, adidas partnerships, social media, and more.

Last season, she helped the team achieve 21 program records, 10 conference records, and helped 80 percent of student-athletes achieve personal best times at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships.

“I am so excited and so grateful to Courtney for the opportunity to coach alongside a prestigious staff and a high-achieving group of student-athletes,” Tomley said. “I can’t wait to start helping build the Yellow Jackets to new heights.”

Prior to George Washington, she was the director of aquatics and competitive swimming at the Country Club of Mobile, where she was responsible for leading the aquatics division and roster of 100-plus athletes and was assistant director of annual giving and special events in the athletics department at the University of New Mexico for two years. She also previously coached at the Bronze Medal Club, CMSA, in Mobile, Ala. for a summer as well.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Tomley was a three-time NCAA participant as a sprinter at Alabama, competing in relays at the national meet in 2015, 2016 and 2018. She competed at the SEC Championships all four years and made three trips to the U.S. Open, in addition to her appearance at the Olympic Trials following her sophomore season. Her personal-best swims in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free still rank among her alma mater’s all-time top 10.

An education in exercise and sports science major, Tomley was twice honored as a CSCAA First-Team Academic All-American and also recognized as a CoSIDA Academic All-American during her time with the Crimson Tide. After completing her undergraduate degree in 2018 summa cum laude, she earned a master’s in business administration the following year, as well.

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