Blue Wave Diving

Blue Wave Diving Coaches are registered through the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union). Our staff has also been safety certified with USA Diving and the NYSPHSAA . Since 2008 our coaching staff has produced: NCAA DIII National Champions, USA Diving JO National Qualifiers, AAU National Champions, NYSPHSAA Championship Finalists and many High School sectional champions. Our coaching staff has over 35 years of coaching experience and we are constantly researching and practicing the latest techniques and mechanics in the sport of diving.

Michelle Austin

Michelle is in her 8th year with Blue Wave Diving. Coach Austin has many roles with the Blue Wave Diving club. She is the club secretary, the Ripples Team Coordinator, and the Riptide Team Coach. Michelle has been instrumental in the success of Blue Wave Diving.

Since she began coaching with Blue Wave Diving the program has produced: 5 Section V Champions, 14 state qualifiers, and 2 State Finalists for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.

Coach Austin also helped lead the Blue Wave women to a 3rd place finish at the 2014 AAU National Championships. The Blue Wave women's final in 20 events at championships including 3 bronze medal winners, 2 silver medal winners, and 4 National Champions!

For USA Diving competitions, Michelle helped Coach: 1 East National Championships qualifier, 10 Zone A performances, 2 Age Group Performances, and 3 JO National Performances. In the summer of 2014 Coach Towne coached Blue Wave Diving's first Age Group National Finalist at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN.

Coach Austin is also the Diving Coach for Livonia High School. Since she started with Livonia High School 2 years ago she has produced 2 league champions, 1 Section V Class C Champion, and 2 state championship qualifiers including 1 State Championship Finalist.

Coach Austin resides in Dansville, NY with her Husband Shawn.

Shawn Austin

Coach Austin was named the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's National Coach of the Year after guiding Junior Trent Makoweic to a second-place finish in the 1-meter and 3-meter events and Sophomore Greg Meder to a 5th-place finish in the 1-meter event at the 2024 NCAA Championships. This is Coach Austin's third time being awarded National Coach of the Year. He was also named the 2016 and 2018 Men's National Coach of the Year after guiding Sam Randall to a national championship in the 3-meter event in 2016 and the 1-meter event in 2018. Sam is the first national champion in the history of Geneseo Swimming and Diving and only the 4th in the history of the college. Coach Austin has also been named the SUNYAC Diving Coach of the Year for either the women's, men's, or both every year since its inception in 2016 (11 times).

Coach Austin was recently inducted into the Monroe Community College Hall of Fame! Coach Austin was an athlete who changed the face of the Diving Program at Monroe Community College. Austin obliterated previous school records on 1M and 3M boards, both 11 and 6 dive formats. He was also named the Men's Outstanding Performer at the 1999 Region III NJCAA Championships. That was the only time the award was given to a diver in history! He capped off his MCC Diving career by earning NJCAA All-American on 1M and 3M boards while competing at the National Tournament.

Coach Austin has over thirty years of competitive diving experience, including twenty-four as a diving coach. Shawn has parlayed his love of diving into a successful coaching appointment with SUNY Geneseo. He is in his sixteenth coaching season (2022-2023), and since being appointed, he has produced some of the finest divers in the program's history.

Men (5) - 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024
Women (4) - 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020

Since 2007, under Shawn's leadership, skills, and talents, SUNY Geneseo divers have broken many diving records, including every SUNY Geneseo diving record, en route to accomplishing the following accolades:

1 National Champion (2 Performances)
9 divers earned NCAA All-America honors a total of 26 times
7 divers earned NCAA Honorable Mention All-America honors a total of 11 times
15 NCAA Qualifiers (23 Total Performances)
24 NCAA Region 4 Qualifiers *The event began in 2012
8 SUNYAC Champions (23 Performances)
27 SUNYAC Finalists (112 Performances)
11 SUNYAC Diver of the meet award winners
5 SUNYAC Diver of the Year award Winners (5 Occasions)
4 ECAC Champions

Coach Austin has also been the head coach of the Blue Wave Diving Club since 2008 after spending nine years in the same position with Finger Lakes Diving. Under his tutelage, his clubs have produced:

40 NYS Sectional Champions
55 NYS Championship Qualifiers
30 NYS Championship Finalists
60 AAU National Championship Finalists (4 Champions)
5 USA Diving Age Group Nationals Qualifiers

In the summer of 2014 the women’s Blue Wave Diving team had 18 finalists, including four champions, three silver, and four bronze medal winners in route to finishing third overall in the nation at the AAU National Championships in Atlanta, GA.

As an athlete, Shawn was a NYSPHSAA Section V Champion in ’96. While attending Alfred State College and Monroe Community College he was a 4 time NJCAA Region III Champion and 2 time NJCAA National bronze medal winner 97-99. While at the ‘99 Region III Championships, Shawn shattered the 1M and 3M diving records and anchored the 2nd place finishing 200 Freestyle relay. His performances earned him the coveted “Men’s Swimming Most Outstanding Performer” award. Shawn continued to dive after college and was a 3 time Empire State Games Men's Open qualifier, achieving a 2nd place finish at the 1998 games held in Rochester, NY.

A native of Naples, N.Y., Austin has worked full time at Geneseo as a Technology Support Professional with the Computer Information Technology department since 2005. Shawn resides in Dansville, N.Y.