Nittaya Klim is in her sixth season at the helm of Akron swimming and diving, a program she took over in April of 2006.

Klim has built a competitive program with a pair of UA records falling in 2010-11, notably freshman Catherine Carr's demolition of the 400-yard individual medley mark by more than six seconds at the 2011 Mid-American Conference Championships. UA also placed four student-athletes - Jayne Malloy, Courtney Fischbach, Leeanna Hoover, and Meghan Bowling - on the Academic All-MAC team in 2011. Klim's teams have placed a total of 14 athletes on the Academic All-MAC squad during her tenure.

In the 2009-10 season, Klim mentored Kendall Karchner to a MAC 200-yard backstroke title, and placed three swimmers on All-MAC Teams. Karchner received first team honors, while senior Steph Zielinski and freshman Katie Miles were named to the second team.

Additionally, the 2009-10 season saw six individual UA records fall, while three relay records were broken. Klim also continued to push excellence in the classroom, as Karchner, Zielinski, Hoover, and Madelyn Robinson were all named to the Academic All-MAC squad. The 2009-10 squad won five dual meets as well as taking third place at the Zippy Invitational and fifth at the MAC Championships.

In 2008-09, the Zips' program posted a 6-6 mark in dual matches, and placed third in the annual Zippy Invitational. Akron once again placed fifth in the MAC Championships, shattering 13 school records in the process. Overall, the 2008-09 UA swimming and diving squad broke 14 school records and Katie Carter and Zielinski were named first team and second team All-MAC, respectively. Carter and Zielinski also earned Academic All-MAC honors for their work in the classroom.

The 2007-08 campaign was highlighted by Zielinski's first of three all-conference seasons, as the standout was named to the All-MAC second team .

In her first season in charge, Klim guided Akron to a 5-7 dual meet record and matched its highest ever MAC Championship finish, taking fifth.

"Coach Klim has done a great job building her program here at Akron." Akron Director of Athletics Tom Wistrcill said. "She is a good recruiter and her student-athletes have a great experience being part of the team. Her squad always does well in the classroom and Nittaya promotes a real sense of family amongst the team. Our future in the pool is very bright under her leadership."

Klim - who is just the second head coach in the program's history - came to Akron after spending four years as an assistant coach with the Penn State men's and women's swimming and diving teams. She aided a Nittany Lion women's team that won back-to-back Big Ten titles in 2005 and 2006. She also helped 10 student-athletes earn All-American status.

During her time in State College, Klim served as the recruiting coordinator under head coach Bill Dorenkott, was an instructor at Penn State's Summer Swim Camp and the USA Swimming Select Distance Camp Director. Klim was instrumental in bringing many of PSU's 37 NCAA qualifiers, 10 All-Americans, 25 honorable mention All-Americans, nine individual Big Ten Champions and eight Olympic Trials qualifiers to Happy Valley.

Prior to her time at Penn State, she spent two seasons on the staff at the University of Pennsylvania, where she coached one individual Ivy League champion in 2002.

Before coaching at Penn, Klim spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Villanova, helping the Wildcats to back-to-back Big East Conference Championships and an NCAA individual champion.

Klim was a decorated swimmer, earning All-American honors at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. She earned All-American honors three times during her collegiate career and graduated in 1992 with a bachelor of arts in English.

Klim and her husband, Joe, have a four-year old son, Andrew.

Coaching Career
Year, School (Position)
2002-06: Penn State University (Assistant Coach)
2000-02: University of Pennsylvania (Assistant Coach)
1997-2000: Villanova University (Assistant Coach)

Swimming Career
1989-92, Emory University
• All-America swimmer, 200 freestyle (1990)
• All-America swimmer, 200 and 400 freestyle (1989)

Klim By the Numbers
5 - Individual MAC Champions
9 - All-MAC Selections
14 - Academic All-MAC Selections