LSU Gold

Jeana Kempe Season 2023-24

LSU
Jeana Kempe
Title
Assistant Coach

Jeana Kempe enters her fifth season as an assistant coach for the LSU swimming and diving team. During her time in Baton Rouge, Kempe has helped propel the women’s team to new heights.

The women’s team has finished fifth at SEC Championships for the best finish since the 2011-12 season. The squad has also sent a program record 11 swimmers and divers to NCAA Championships in back to back years.

Kempe also aided to individual success, especially the development of Caley Oquist into the top backstroke specialist in program history. In four seasons, Oquist broke school records in the 100 and 200 backstroke and qualified for NCAA Championships three-straight seasons.

In addition to working with Oquist, Kempe has contributed to Massachusetts native Colleen O’Neil’s growth in the breaststroke events. In three seasons under Kempe, O’Neil has qualified individually for NCAA’s in the 100 breast and 200 breast and set the second-fastest 100 and 200 breast times in school history. At the 2016 NCAA Championships, O’Neil was also a part of the school record 400-medely relay team.

Kempe has also worked with men’s team members Silas Dejean, Garrett House and Harry Ackland during her time in Baton Rouge. Dejean was a part of the 400-medley relay school record team and also qualified for NCAA Championships with two relays in 2015. Dejean, Ackland and House have also swam to times on LSU’s top-10 list.

Prior to her stint at LSU, Kempe served as an assistant coach for two years at Northern Arizona. Kempe led NAU swimmers to 14 NCAA ‘B’ cuts and 14 school records. In addition, 28 program all-time top-five swims were registered.

NAU posted two top-three finishes at the WAC Championships with Kempe as an assistant coach, including a second place finish in 2012. Four NAU swimmers were named CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major All-Americans during the 2011-12 season. The swimmers won five individual titles during the 2012 WAC Championships.

During her time in Flagstaff, Kempe also worked with developing the training schedule and dry land programs, organizing recruiting logistics and coordinating alumni relations.
Kempe was a four-year letter winner at UCLA. She helped lead the Bruins to a pair of second-place finishes in the Pac-12 Conference during her career. She was a three-time top-eight finisher at the Pac-12 Championships and served as team captain her senior season.

Following her collegiate swimming career, Kempe worked in the UCLA athletic department. Kempe mentored student-athletes and helped them succeed in the class room.

Kempe worked as an academic graduate assistant in the NAU athletic department while pursuing her graduate studies in the college of education. As a graduate assistant, she helped the academic coordinators in eligibility and performance of student-athletes.

While in Flagstaff, Kempe gained coaching experience working with the Flagstaff Peaks Aquatic Club.

Prior to swimming at UCLA, Kempe was the Illinois High School Swimmer of the Year, a Junior National Champion, Olympic Trials qualifier (2000 and 2004), National Junior Team member and a US National Finalist.

Kempe, a native of Lebanon, Illinois was an Athletic Director’s Honor Roll selection at UCLA and earned her undergraduate degree in sociology in 2007. She completed her master’s degree in educational psychology and human relations at NAU in December 2009. Kempe married Andrew Kempe in Sept. 2013, and they have a daughter, Avery.