Bryan Christiansen begins his fourth season with the Hawks after a solid revamp of the Quincy swimming program.
The 2024-25 season was the best in Hawks History. It was capped with two All-American performances from juniors Wyatt Walsh and Borna Kisasondi. The men finished 29th at NCAAs and notably, 8th in the GLVC, which is an indication of the strength of the conference. The women earned six pool records and two team records and finished 9th in the Conference with standout wins against St. Ambrose and Illinois Tech.
In 2023-24 the team expanded from sixteen swimmers to thirty-seven and began to become very competitive. Wyatt Walsh made the NCAA Championship meet, finishing 17th in the 400 IM. The Hawks set sixteen team records and became a presence on the national stage.
In the 2022-2023 swim season, Christiansen established a new era of Hawks swimming, relaunching the women's program and creating the inaugural men's swimming program. Most notable for Christiansen in the 2022-2023 season were the five NCAA B cuts and freshman Wyatt Walsh finishing with the 11th best time for the 400 IM in NCAA DII.
Prior to Quincy, Christiansen spent three seasons as the head swimming coach for Frostburg State University from 2018 - 2021. During this time, he guided the Frostburg Bobcats through its first season at the NCAA Division II level. In his last year the Bobcats had seven MEC champions at the combined GMAC/MEC Championships, including Swimmer of the Year Anthony Giuseppetti and Freshman of the Year Andy Creelman. Both athletes repeated these honors at Frostburg State’s Athletics Awards Ceremony, earning overall Athlete of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards for Frostburg State respectively. Haley Benedictis was named Frostburg’s Comeback Athlete of the Year after recovering from surgery and becoming a major contributor to the team and eventual captain. The men finished fifth overall and third in the MEC, while the women finished seventh overall and fourth in the MEC. In his three-year tenure, Christiansen’s swimmers broke 54 team and pool records.
Frostburg has also had successful Paralympians. Connor Gioffreda was named to the US National Team and qualified for the Parapan American Games in 2019 and set a world record in the SM6 1500 freestyle. He qualified for the Tokyo 2020 US Trials but was not named to the US Paralympic Team.
Before FSU, Christiansen was the assistant coach at John Carroll University in 2017, where he was part of a coaching staff that was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Staff of the Year, while leading both the men and women to the 2018 OAC Championship Title. JCU had 19 Conference Champions, seven Conference Records and two athletes All-American at the 2018 NCAA Championship.
Prior to his tenure with JCU, Christiansen served as an assistant coach at SUNY New Paltz from 2015-2017. New Paltz finished in second place on both sides both years he was there. He coached eight conference champions, set three SUNYAC records, 14 varsity records, and 13 pool records. The SUNY New Paltz swimming teams both went undefeated in the 2016-2017 season.
Christiansen has coached swimming since 2008. In that time, he has coached club, high school, Masters, and summer leagues. He has also been active with summer swim camps, directing the New Paltz Elite Swim Camp from 2016-17 and the QU Swim Camp from 2023-25.
Christiansen graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hiram College, earning his bachelor's degree in history in 2008. He was a three-year captain of the men's swim team and was named the MVP of the 2006-2007 season. He competed primarily in backstroke and his 800-meter freestyle relay team record that is still standing as of 2025.
He earned his master's degree in communication and media technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He lives in Quincy with his wife, Sarah, who is an attorney for the Appellate Court of Illinois, their two-year old son, George, and two cats, Missy and Linc.
