SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Peterson Family Head Swimming Coach Chris Lindauer is beginning to build out his staff and has hired Kameron Chastain as an associate coach. Chastain has spent the last seven seasons as an assistant coach with Lindauer at Louisville.
“Kameron is the perfect fit for this position,” said Lindauer. “Having previously worked with him, Kameron exemplifies the character it will take to build Notre Dame Swimming & Diving into one of the top NCAA programs in the country. His vision, drive, leadership, and emphasis on the student-athlete experience, allows him to get the most out of his student-athletes success in and out of the pool. Kameron has worked with numerous ACC and NCAA champions and has one of the most innovative minds in college coaching. I’m beyond excited to welcome Kameron, Lindsey, and KJ to our Notre Dame family. Go Irish!”
“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve in this role at the University of Notre Dame,” said Chastain. “I am thankful to Chris for providing me with mentorship over the years as both a student-athlete as well as a colleague, and now with an opportunity as a part of his staff in South Bend. This is an exciting transition for my family and I, and we’re excited to get to work!”
During his time at Louisville, Chastain oversaw the Cardinals earn an ACC men’s team title, four Top-10 finishes between both squads at nationals and a number of individual champions on the national and international stage. In each of his seven seasons at Louisville, at least one of the men’s or women’s teams finished in the Top-3 at ACC’s and both teams finished in the Top-3 in six of those seven seasons.
In the 2018-19 season, Louisville’s women’s team recorded their highest finish at the NCAA Championships in program history, finishing fourth overall with 235 points. Louisville became the first ACC program in history to have both its men’s and women’s teams finish in the top five at NCAAs in a single season as the men finished fifth
Chastain guided national record holders during his time in Louisville including Kelsi Worell, and Mallory Comerford. Mallory Comerford won three-straight ACC Women’s Swimmer of the Year honors working with Chastain and she claimed two titles at the NCAA Championship and three ACC Championship gold medals in her final season with the Cardinals. In 2017, Comerford won five gold medals at the FINA World Championships and tied for the NCAA title in the 200 free with Katie Ledecky.
In her final season with the Cardinals, Worrell won two NCAA titles, earned the Honda Award and was named a First-Team Academic All-American. She also was named ACC Swimmer of the Year. Worrell qualified for the Rio games and won gold in the 4×100 medley relay. In all, seven Cardinals went to Rio (Joao De Lucca, Andrea Kneppers, Tanja Kylliainen, Marcelo Acosta, Carlos Claverie, Grigory Tarasevich and Worrell).
Chastain lettered for the Cardinals from 2010-14, served as captain and was a part of two conference team championships while competing NCAAs all four years. He was an all-Big East and All-American Conference performer. In all, he won nine conference championships and was a part of the school record ninth place finish at the 2012 NCAA’s. After his 2014 graduation with a degree in exercise science, he served as a volunteer assistant with the UofL team while coaching age group swimmers at Cardinal Aquatics.
He and his wife, Lindsey, have one son, Karsyn.
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