Tim O'Neill joined Lake Superior State in 2025 as the second Swimming and Diving Head Coach in program history and rapidly advanced the Lakers young Men's and Women's teams in only their second year of competition, building the framework for a serious contender in the years to come.
Lake Superior State's 2026 recruiting class quickly seized that initiative, with quality international talent arriving in Sault Ste. Marie for both Men's and Women's Swimming.
Hungarian international Mate Szatmari has excelled for his country at youth levels, as have English swimmers Laurel Roberts-Burrell and Lewis Hickman. Paraguayan Constanza Areco Sancho had an excellent summer prior to arriving at LSSU, headlining a deep recruiting class for the Women's team.
Under O'Neill's guidance, LSSU sent its first swimmer, sophomore Fedor Mironov, to the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships. It was a major milestone for the second year program. Mironov had strong showings at the GLIAC Championships and Shark Invitational. At Shark, Mironov won the 100 Yard Freestyle race, beating international qualifiers in the process. Then at the GLIAC Championships, Mironov earned a conference medal by finishing third in the 100 Yard Butterfly. He would qualify for Nationals, swimming in the 50 Yard Freestyle, 100 Yard Freestyle and 100 Yard Butterfly.
The program also saw tremendous growth from returners Dimitrij Mijailovic and Mitar Sarkovic on the Men's team. For the Women's team, newcomer Andrea Ayuso Mendez set numerous school records and posted good times at the Shark Invitational as well. Ivy Delo also continued her progression.
Prior to his arrival at LSSU, O'Neill guided Lewis to a seventh place finish at the 2025 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships as Interim Head Coach. The Flyers set numerous school records and hit over 40 NCAA Division II Qualifying times under his leadership.
As a collegiate athlete, Tim swam at UMass from 2009-2012, winning three Atlantic-10 team conference championships and finishing Top 10 all-time in the 100 Yard Butterfly.
He earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from UMass in 2015 and a Master of Business Administration from Bryant University in 2021.
