Three-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year David Sheets enters his 25th season at the helm of the Duquesne women's swimming and diving program in 2025-26.
Sheets and the Dukes, who claimed back-to-back Atlantic 10 titles in 2018 and 2019, have consistently remained among the conference's elite, finishing in the top four at the A-10 Championships for 11 consecutive seasons. That stretch includes a runner-up finish in 2022 and a third-place showing in 2025.
At the 2025 Atlantic 10 Championships, the Dukes captured the bronze medal with a total of 525 points—the fourth-highest team score in program history. Leading the way under the tutelage of Sheets, freshman Ashley Freel made her mark by becoming just the third rookie in school history to be named Most Outstanding Rookie. Freel delivered an exceptional performance, earning three podium finishes, setting a personal best, and contributing to a school record. Overall, the Dukes had a standout showing at the championships, collecting 13 podium finishes, breaking seven school records, and achieving five NCAA “B” cut times. The team also recorded 42 new personal bests and added 27 times to the program’s all-time top performances list.
The Dukes are coming off its second consecutive fourth-place finish at the A-10 Championships in 2024, where they tallied three medals. Under the direction of Sheets, Haley Scholer claimed the gold in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:55.48 while also setting a new school record. Scholer, along with Lexi Sundgren, Molly Brennan, and Orla Egan secured the silver medal in the 800-yard freestyle relay, with a time of 7:14.11 which is also a Duquesne record. Scholer etched her name into the history books by qualifying for the United States Olympic Team Trials in the 200-meter backstroke. She earned her spot by posting an Olympic Trial cut time of 2:13.41 in the 200-yard backstroke at the Eastern Senior Zone Championships in Buffalo, N.Y., in August 2023. Dominating a field of 52 swimmers, Scholer claimed first place in the event and became just the second swimmer in Duquesne history to achieve an Olympic Trial cut. The only other Duke to reach this milestone was Emma Brinton, who qualified in the 200 IM during the 2020 season.
Duquesne is coming off a a fourth-place finish at the A-10 Championships in 2023, where they collected four medals. Under Sheets leadership, Amy Read claimed the lone gold in the 1m dive and was named the Atlantic 10 Diver of the Year, then went on to qualify for the NCAA national championships in the 1m and 3m dives.
At the 2022 A-10 Championships, DU finished runner-up behind nine medals. The team of Mendy De Rooi, Hayley Taylor, Emma Menzer, and Hanna Everhart won the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of seven minutes, 15 seconds-even, breaking the 2018 conference record held previously by George Washington (7:15:43). De Rooi would go on to add three more medals, including a gold and school-record time in the 100-yard free.
In 2021, the Dukes tallied a score of 539 points keyed by five medal-winning performances by both Hanna Everhart and Audrey Steen to go with five program record-breaking showings as a team to secure second place. In addition, Emma Brinton capped her decorated Duquesne career taking home four medals.
Over her career, Brinton took home three gold medals in both the 200 and 400 IM, becoming first Duquesne swimmer to win three career A-10 titles in the same event. She also became the first Duquesne swimmer to qualify and compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials, taking part in the 200 IM at the trials in Omaha, Neb. in 2021.
The Dukes posted a third-place finish at the 2020 conference championship meet. Duquesne recorded the fourth-highest point total in program history with a score of 525.0, taking home nine medals at the meet. The Dukes also landed five on the 11-member A-10 Academic All-Conference team for the second time in three seasons.
In 2019, Sheets and the Dukes captured their second-straight A-10 title, registered a school-record 580.5 points at the conference champion meet, leading after each of the four days of competition. Duquesne took home 11 medals and recording points on the diving side for the first time since the 1997-98 campaign. Sheets earned A-10 Women's Swimming Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive season. Freshman Audrey Steen became the second Dukes swimmer in as many years to garner A-10 Most Outstanding Rookie Performer accolades.
Under Sheets' guidance, Duquesne tallied 567 points at the 2018 championship meet, capturing the first A-10 crown in program history. Freshman Emma Brinton was named the A-10's Most Outstanding Rookie Performer earning A-10 Rookie of the Week honors a program-record four times that season. Coming down to the final event, the Dukes prevailed and dethroned seven-time defending champion Richmond at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. The Dukes finished with 13 medal-winning performances at the meet.
The historical 2017-18 season followed two consecutive second-place finishes at the Atlantic 10 Championship in 2016 and 2017. In 2015, Duquesne posted a then program-best third-place showing at the A-10 Championship where Sheets was named the A-10 Coach of the Year for the first time.
During his tenure at Duquesne, Sheets has transformed the program from a perennial bottom-tier finisher into a championship contender year after year. Over the past 24 seasons, he has guided the Dukes to the highest conference finishes in school history, highlighted by back-to-back Atlantic 10 titles in 2018 and 2019. His teams have also earned runner-up finishes in 2016, 2017, 2021, and 2022, along with third-place results in 2008, 2009, 2015, and 2025. Under his leadership, Duquesne has produced 49 individual conference champions, 32 CSCAA All-America Honorable Mentions, and 18 relay champions. Sheets has also mentored standout student-athletes, including Hanna Everhart, a CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American.
Also the coach of the men's program for seven seasons (2004-10), Sheets has seen his swimmers accomplish 30 NCAA Division I "B" qualifying standards, nine Collegeswimming.com All-America Honorable Mentions, 57 Atlantic 10 conference champions, seven conference record holders, two Atlantic 10 Conference Championship "Outstanding Male Performers", two Atlantic 10 Conference Championship "Rookie Female Performers," an Atlantic 10 Conference Championship "Rookie Male Performer" and three Atlantic 10 Swimming "Student-Athlete of the Year" honorees. The men's team finished the 2009-10 season ranked in the top 25 of all Mid-Major swimming programs, as well.
In addition, the programs have broken every school record and established a tradition of academic success, having either the men's or women's teams being ranked in the top 15 in the country for team GPA each season.
A 1994 graduate of Clarion University with a degree in biology, Sheets went on to earn a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Clarion in 1995 and a Master's Degree in Sports Leadership from Duquesne University in 2009.
A four-year member of the swim team, he reigned as the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) champion in the 100 and 200 backstroke in 1992 and the 200 back and the 200 individual medley in 1993. In total, Sheets garnered four individual and five relay conference titles as well as a third and fifth place finishes in the 200 and 100 backstroke events, respectively at the 1993 NCAA Championships. A 20-time Division II All-American, Sheets set school records in the 100 and 200 backstroke.
Over his collegiate career, he led Clarion to the 1992 PSAC championship and second-place showings in 1990, 91 and 93. Additionally, Clarion's men's program finished second at the NCAA Division II meet in 1992, third in 1991 and was in the top 10 each of his other two seasons. A school rich in tradition, Clarion has posted 16 PSAC swimming titles since the 1979 campaign. He was inducted into the Clarion Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
Sheets began his coaching career in 1993 as a student-assistant swimming coach at Clarion. In 1995, he served as the head boys' and girls' swimming coach at Burbank High School where he was named District 27 Coach of the Year and as the assistant swimming coach for the Alamo Area Aquatics Club, both in San Antonio, Texas. In 1996, Sheets was the head coach of the Brookville (Pa.) High School boys' and girls' swimming teams where he led both teams to the District 6/9 titles and a top 10 finish at the PIAA state meet for the girls squad. From there, Sheets served as the head boys' and girls' coach at Butler (Pa.) High School from 1997 to 2000 where he produced 40 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) AAA qualifiers and one PIAA state qualifier.
He then went on to become the assistant women's swimming and diving coach at Cornell, before accepting the position at Duquesne.
Sheets holds memberships in the American Swim Coaches Association, the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association, College Swim Coaches Association of America and United States Master Swimming.
He is still an active member of master's swimming, where he was a National Long Course Champion in the 100 and 200 back in 1999.
He and his wife Christina reside in Allison Park with their son Benjamin and twin daughters Elizabeth and Alaina.
