Class of 2009 alumnus Caroline Lukins has been named an assistant coach for the Columbia University’s 2014-15 women’s swimming and diving team. Lukins was previously an assistant coach at Orinda Aquatics, Chelsea Piers Masters, and at the Lamorinda Youth Association Swim Club. Lukins competed for Columbia for 4 years while earning her undergraduate degree.
According to the Columbia athletics web site, “The former team captain was a four-year letterwinner for the Lions from 2009-2013 and is one the fastest swimmers in program history. She helped elevate the Lions from a sixth place finish at the Ivy League Championships in her first year to a third place finish in her senior year. Lukins was a critical player in Columbia’s first and second program wins over Princeton.”
Orinda Aquatics head coach Ronnie Heidary praised Lukins’s achievements throughout her middle school and high school career. “She made national championships, she was a finalist at North Coast and High School All-American, and I believe she was a Campolindo and Orinda Aquatics Inspirational Award winner,” he said.
Physical Education instructor Chris Walsh said, “She personified the student-athlete in the classroom and in the pool.” He also stated that Lukins had many qualities of a leader. “She was exceptionally dedicated,” he added. “She had a very burning competitive fire and she cared deeply for her team and her teammates.”
“She was respected because she never missed practice, she worked hard, and she was very competitive and trained well, but she also was just a good person,” Heidary said of her 7 years with Orinda Aquatics.
“The expectations and the atmosphere here is that you make right choices and you live by a certain value system, and that character is important, and doing the right thing is important. She grew up in a program where that was the expectation,” said Heidary. “She kind of molded her life according to those values and it really was who she was, it was who she was as a person, and she had support here from her coaches and her teammates to make those good life choices.”
According to Heidary, Lukins did not let her success go to her head. “She was one of the fastest kids on the team, but one of the nicest kids on the team,” said Heidary. “She cared about her teammates no matter what level of swimming they were, she valued them for who they were as people, and she was just a fun person,” he said.
Lukins credited her position at Orinda Aquatics for her maturity and values. “The OA [Orinda Aquatics] program has completely shaped who I’ve become– as an athlete, an employee, a friend, and a leader,” she said.
Lukins will try to bring some of OA character into the Columbia Swim Team. “If I can model and instill even a drop of ‘OA values’ into the team this year, I (and I think everyone) will consider it a very successful season,” she said.
