Babson College

Eric Thurston is in his fifth season as head men's and women's swimming & diving coach at Babson in 2026-27.

The Beavers have enjoyed much success under Thurston as the men's program has produced a combined 29-14 record in dual meets over his four years while the women have posted a 27-24-1 record. The men have finished in the top four at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships all four seasons while the women's fourth place in 2026 was the program's best finish since joining the NEWMAC in 1997.

Thurston led the 2025-26 men's team to an 8-1 dual meet record, its highest winning percentage (.889) since the 1972-73 squad finished 13-1 (.929), and just the fourth time in program history with a dual-meet winning percentage above .800. The Babson women finished with a 7-4-1 record in 2025-26, reaching seven victories for just the ninth time in the 38-year history of the program. The women broke seven program records in 2025-26 (four individual, three relay) and the men set one new individual and one relay standard this past winter.

The Beavers had an outstanding campaign under Thurston in 2024-25. The men's squad finished 7-3 in dual meet competition before finishing fourth at the NEWMAC Championships with 704 points, the third highest point total going back to 2002. The women's team finished 8-5 in dual meets, posting the most wins since the 2019-20 season, and placed seventh at the NEWMAC Championships with 416 points, the highest in program history.

The two teams combined for 18 school records in 2024-25, 12 by the men and six by the women. Pat Anusarasoti '25 captured the NEWMAC title in the men's 100-yard breaststroke, the program's first event victory since 2007.

The 2024-25 Babson men, 5-6 in the regular season, finished fourth at the NEWMAC Championships, setting six program records and totaling 740.5 points, the most since 2002. The Beaver women, 6-7 in dual meets, finished seventh at the championships with 284 points and two program records.

Thurston enjoyed a successful season in his first year on the Babson staff in 2022-23. He guided the men's team to a 9-4 record in dual meets and a third-place finish at the NEWMAC Championships with 725 points, the highest finish and most points for the program since 2002. Thurston led the women's program to a 6-8 mark in dual meets and a seventh-place finish at the NEWMAC Championships with 332 points, the second-highest total in program history. In addition, the Beaver men broke six program records and the women established five new standards during the 2022-23 campaign.

For his success, Thurston and his assistants were voted by their peers as the NEWMAC Men's Swimming Coaching Staff of the Year for 2022-23, the first Babson swim coaches to be recognized since 2012.

Thurston came to Babson following a successful three-year stint as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the men's and women's swimming & diving teams at Boston College. In addition to his hard work on the recruiting trail, which resulted in 14 of 20 first-years qualifying for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships in 2022, he also was responsible for implementing team dry land workouts and academic support during his time in Chestnut Hill.

The Eagles put together a historic 2021-22 campaign that included the program's best results since joining the ACC in 2005. Nine swimmers scored in seven events surpassing the previous high of two. Additionally, the men's and women's squads combined to set 23 swimming and three diving school records, had 11 NCAA Zone Cuts, seven U.S. Open qualifiers and achieved four NCAA B-Cut times under Thurston's watch this past winter.

Prior to Boston College, Thurston served as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Virginia from 2017-19. He worked with the distance group and assisted with on-campus recruiting, swimming & dryland workouts and video to analyze technique and help with race strategy as the Cavaliers claimed an ACC women's championship in 2018 and came in second in 2019 to go along with back-to-back third-place finishes on the men's side. The teams also combined for 45 ACC medalist performances and earned 48 All-America awards.

Thurston got his start in collegiate coaching as a graduate assistant at the University of South Dakota in 2014 where he established a training plan for a sprint group that broke seven school records. He became an assistant coach at Brandeis University in 2015 and helped recruit 35 student-athletes that scored points at the New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association Championships (NEISDA) in addition to helping the sprint group set 17 new school records over two seasons.

A 2014 graduate of Roger Williams University, Thurston was a four-year member of the Hawks' swimming & diving squad. He claimed six NEISDA titles and graduated as the school-record holder in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and was a part of two more records in the 200- and 400-yard medley relays.