Abel Sanchez - Swimming & Diving Coach - University of North Carolina Athletics

Abel Sanchez

Title:
Diving Coach
Email:
abel2s@unc.edu
Phone:
919-962-7261

Abel Sánchez, a 2000 Summer Olympics participant and three-time All-America at the University of Michigan, enters his fifth year as the diving coach at the University of North Carolina. In the first four years of his tenure at Carolina, Sanchez has transformed Carolina’s diving contingent into one of the best in the nation while achieving the highest honors in school history.

The divers Sánchez has recruited to Carolina continue to excel at an exceptional level. At the 2017 U.S. Diving Nationals in August, Greg Duncan reached the finals of one-meter and three-meter diving, taking second and first places, respectively. Sean Burston was also a finalist in three-meter diving and Bryan Allen was a finalist in 10-meter platform diving.

Sánchez led the largest ever diving contingent to the NCAA Championships in Carolina history in 2017 as Elissa Dawson, Maria Lohman, Jack Nyquist, Sean Burston and Bryan Allen all qualified. Dawson earned honorable mention All-America honors in three-meter diving. Dawson and Nyquist were both named All-ACC Divers in 2017 and Dawson was named by U.S. Diving to the Elite National Level Diving Unit. She was named ACC women’s diver of the week six times in 2016-17.

Sánchez has done a brilliant job in recruiting new divers into the program and in making sure they improve after they arrive here. The numbers in the latter regard do not lie. He was rewarded for his efforts by being named the 2016 ACC Women’s Diving Coach of the Year.
The 2015-16 school year was a fantastic one for Tar Heel diving. UNC qualified four divers for the NCAA Championships - Elissa Dawson, Maria Lohman, Jack Nyquist and Ozzie Moyer. Dawson placed ninth in three-meter and platform diving at the NCAA Championships and became only the second UNC women’s diver in history to earn All-America honors in two different years. Nyquist placed sixth in three-meter diving at NCAAs and in the process became the first Tar Heel men’s diver in 59 years to be named a first-team All-America.

Dawson had three top four finishes in the ACC Championships, topped by a runnerup placing in three-meter diving. She went on to be named ACC Women’s Diver of the Year for 2015-16. Nyquist was the runnerup in both the one-meter and three-meter ACC diving events. Carolina divers also did a tremendous job in the summer of 2016 led by Dawson’s seventh place finish in three-meter diving at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Those accomplishments came on the heels of a tremendous 2014-15 season for the diving group. For the third time in school history, UNC qualified two men for the NCAA national championships, the most recent time being Ryan Funderburk and Jon Fox in 2006. It was also the first time UNC had qualified two women for the NCAA nationals. Both Jack Nyquist and Ryan Fox went to the men’s national meet while Elissa Dawson joined Michole Timm at the national meet for women.
Nyquist earned All-America honors in both one- and three-meter diving, the first Tar Heel diver to be an All-America in two different events since 1948. On the women’s side, Dawson was an All-America in 10-meter platform diving and Timm on the three-meter board. No Tar Heel women’s diver had been named an All-America in 23 years. In addition, all three Tar Heel women’s diving records were shattered in 2014-15.

Nyquist was named to the U.S. team which competed at the World University Games in Russia in 2015. He was the first UNC diver in history to represent the U.S. in an international event.

In his first year as Carolina’s diving coach Sanchez saw his competitors reached new heights. Freshman Jack Nyquist was a finalist in two events at the ACC Championships, making the awards podium in the one-meter event. Nyquist went on to earn honorable mention All-America honors in three-meter diving at the NCAA Championships. Nyquist also set the school record in one-meter diving as a freshman.

That was only the beginning for the Tar Heel diving program which excelled at an even higher level during the summer of 2014. At U.S. Diving Nationals in Knoxville, Tenn. in August 2014, the Tar Heel women finished third as a team and the Tar Heel men placed ninth. As a combined team, Carolina finished fifth. The Tar Heels accomplished all this with only four divers competing at U.S. Nationals - Ozzie Moyer, Michole Timm, Jack Nyquist and Elissa Dawson. Nyquist finaled in two events on the men’s side while Dawson was a finalist in three events and Timm in one for the women. Nyquist took fourth place in men’s three-meter synchronized diving and was fifth in the men’s three-meter competition. Moyer also qualified for U.S. Nationals. Dawson also excelled for the Tar Heels at U.S. Diving Nationals. She placed third in three-meter diving and sixth in one-meter diving. Earlier in the summer, Dawson won the Junior National championship in three-meter synchronized diving and was a finalist in one-meter, three-meter and platform diving. Timm also competed at U.S. Nationals, making the finals in the three-meter event.

Sánchez came to Chapel Hill from the University of New Mexico where he had served as the diving coach since October 2004.

At New Mexico, he was the 2011 and 2012 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year. He coached six Mountain West Conference champions, two NCAA All-Americas, 37 MWC finalists and three performers who won MWC Diver of the Year accolades. He coached divers who were either finalists or medalists at the World University Games, the Commonwealth Games, the Canadian Nationals and the Russian Nationals.

In 2012-13, Sánchez coached a diving squad that included six All-Mountain West Conference performers on the one-meter, three-meter and platform events. All six divers qualified for the 2013 NCAA Zone “E” Diving Championships. His divers set the highest scores in the Mountain West Conference for the season. Michole Timm qualified for the NCAA National Championship.

A standout diver in Ann Arbor as a collegian at the University of Michigan, Sánchez was a four-time All-America (twice first team, twice honorable mention) and an Academic All-America. He placed in the Top 10 at the NCAA Championships twice, finishing as high as fourth. Sánchez was also a five-time All-Big Ten Conference honoree. He won two silver medals at the conference championships in his career and helped Michigan to four consecutive Big 10 titles and a national championship for the Maize and Blue in 1995.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in communications in 1995 from the U of M. He also holds a master’s degree in architecture from New Mexico that was earned in 2011.

After his collegiate career ended, Sánchez continued to dive, training with Olympic coaches Kenny Armstrong andJay Lerew and Olympian and world champion Janet Ely-Lagourgue.

Sánchez went on to represent Peru, his father’s home country, on three-meter springboard and platform at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney. Sánchez qualified for the Olympics after claiming silver medals on one-meter and three-meter springboards and the 10-meter platform at the South American Championships. He was an eight-time finalist at the U.S. Diving Nationals, and a five-time finalist in the FINA Grand Prix circuit.

Sánchez joined the Lobos after coaching the Mission Viejo (Calif.) Nadadores Diving Team. Previously he served as a member of coaching staffs at Team Orlando Diving (Fla.), L’Equipe Diving (Irvine, Calif.) and The Woodlands Diving Academy (Texas).

Sánchez, a Holland, Mich., native, is married to Leanne and the couple has two daughters, Bryze (12) and Maizie (10), and a son, Rio (7).

Abel Sánchez Coaching Highlights: 7 NCAA All-Americas including UNC’s Jack Nyquist, Elissa Dawson and Michole Timm; 1 FISU - World University Games Finalist; 2015 World University Games Participant - Jack Nyquist; 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials Finalist - Elissa Dawson 3-Meter; 1 Silver Medalist - Commonwealth Games; 36 Academic All-Conference Award Winners; 6 Mountain West Conference Champions; 43 Mountain West Conference Finalists; 31 Mountain West Conference “Athlete of the Week” Awards; 3 Mountain West Conference “Diver of the Year” Awards; 1 “Senior Athlete of the Year Recognition Award” – Awarded by MWC; 2 Mountain West Conference “Coach of the Year” Award; 2011 UNM Faculty of Color Award for UNM Staff; 2 USA National Finalists; 2 FINA GP Finalists; 4 Canadian National Finalists; 2 Russian National Finalists.