Susan Walsh (swimmer)

Susan Walsh
	Walsh at the 1981 Universiade
Personal information
Full name	Susan Walsh
Nickname	"Sue"
National team	United States
Born	1962; Hamburg, New York
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke
College team	University of North Carolina
Coach	Frank Comfort; (UNC)
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing the United States
World Championships
Pan American Games
Universiade

Susan Walsh (born 1962),^[1] also known by her married name Susan Stankavage, is an American former competition swimmer who won two medals at the 1982 World Aquatics Championships.^[2] She qualified for the 1980 Summer Olympics in the 100-meter backstroke, but could not compete because of their United States-led boycott of the Soviet-hosted games. She was 0.01 seconds short of qualifying for the 1984 Olympics in the same event.^[3]

Biography

Walsh was born in Hamburg, New York, as the youngest of five children and started swimming because of her father Bob, a swimming official. She graduated from the Mount Mercy Academy and then from the University of North Carolina (1984), with a degree in business administration and accounting. At North Carolina, she swam under Head Coach Frank Comfort, who won an exceptional number of career meets, winning over 500 in his first 30 years as a coach.^[4] In 1987 she became an assistant swimming coach and in February 1989 started working at the Educational Foundation, better known as the Rams Club.^[3]^[5]

In 2003, she was inducted to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.^[6] In the 2000s, she was still competing in swimming in the masters category. In 2007, she set six world records in the 45–49 age group at the 2007 United States Master's Swimming Championships.^[7]

Family

She was married to Scott Stankavage, a former American football quarterback, from 1986 to 1997. They had three children: Sarah and Shelby are swimmers,^[3]^[8] and Shawn plays football.^[9]^[10]