Dorsey Tierney-Walker enters her fourth season as The University of New Mexico head women’s swimming coach after taking over the program in 2016.
In the 2018-19 season, the Lobos produced their highest score as well as their highest finish at the Mountain West Championships, finishing fourth with 792.50 points.
Senior Adriana Palomino led the Lobos throughout the meet, winning all three individual races she competed in. Palomino became the first swimmer in the Mountain West to win the 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, and the 1650-yard freestyle. Palomino was also the first Lobo in school history to be named MW Swimmer of the Meet after placing first in the individual rankings with 96 points.
UNM had seven individual athletes and one relay team earn All-Mountain West accolades and had a MW Swimmer of the Week and MW Diver of the Week. Senior diver Allyson Concepcion was named diver of the week Dec. 4 and Palomino was selected as swimmer of the week on Nov. 20. Concepcion’s selection was the first time since 2013 that a Lobo has been chosen as diver of the week, with the last UNM diver being Michole Timm on Feb. 6, which was also the last time that UNM has had both a swimmer and a diver chosen for the conference honor in the same season.
Tierney-Walker came to Albuquerque with national championship-winning experience as she claimed a pair of national championships as co-head women’s swimming coach of Auburn in 2006 and 2007 as well as a pair of team national championships as a swimmer for the University of Texas in 1990 and 1991.
Along with the two national titles at Auburn, Tierney-Walker led the Tigers to a pair of SEC titles as well. During her four seasons with Auburn, the Tigers never finished lower than sixth at the NCAAs and racked up 196 All-American performances.
Tierney-Walker followed her time at Auburn by becoming the head men’s and women’s swimming coach at Arizona State from 2009-15 – leading the women’s program to a 12th-place finish nationally in 2012 and the men’s program to an 18th-place finish in 2013.
Prior to her time at Auburn, Tierney-Walker was the women’s head coach at Indiana for seven years. She was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2002, led the Hoosier swimmers to 99 All-American honors and the team to a program-best ninth-place finish at the 2005 NCAA Championships. In her final four years at Indiana, her swimmers broke every school record.
Tierney-Walker came to Indiana from Southern Methodist, where she was an assistant coach from 1996-98. She helped guide the Mustangs to three top-four finishes at the NCAA Championships during her three-year tenure, including a national runner-up finish in 1996. The team also won Western Athletic Conference titles in 1997 and 1998.
At the international level, Tierney-Walker was an assistant coach for the United States at the 2001 World University Games. She coached Susan Woessner to a silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke, a silver medal as a member of the 400-meter medley relay and a bronze medal in the 50-meter backstroke. She also assisted Cyndi Gallagher at the 2007 World University Games.
Tierney-Walker also had a decorated career in the pool as well as she was a finalist in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Trials, swam for the University of Texas and won a pair of national championships with the Longhorns in 1990 and 1991. While with the Longhorns, she set an NCAA record in winning the 200-meter breaststroke in 1991. She was a two-time captain with the team and collected 16 All-American honors.
In 1987 she earned her first gold medal in the 200 breaststroke at the Pan-American Games in Indianapolis, and in 1991 she was ranked third in the world in the 200 breaststroke. In that same season she was named captain of the USA National Team at the Pan-American Games held in Havana, Cuba, and she’d go on to win three gold medals and set the Pan-Am Games record in the 200 breaststroke.