TicketsHe help lead 16 Bearcats to the CSCAA National Invitational as the men’s team placed eighth overall. At the invitational Micheal Balcerack won the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:44.04. Bearcats also racked up seven top-10 finishes.
Fortier guided the men’s team to a second place finish and the women’s team to a fourth place finish at the ACC Championships. Blake Hanna won the 200 backstroke for the second year in a row and Michael Balcerak was named ACC Male Swimmer of the Year. A total of 13 Bearcats found places on the podium throughout the meet.
In 2021, Fortier helped guide four Bearcats as they competed at the 2020 Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. Blake Hanna qualified in the 100m and 200m backstroke, finished second in Wave 1 with a time of 2:00.11 to earn his way into Wave 2. Hunter Gubeno qualified in the 100m and 200m backstroke and the 200m individual medley. Kevin Leibold qualified for the 200m butterfly and Connor Funke qualified in the 200m breaststroke.
At the 2021 AAC Championships, the men's team finished second and the women's team third, highlighted with a record number of American Athletic Conference podium finishes with a total of 36, with eight of those being conference champions. The men swept the podium in the 500 Free for the third consecutive year, and Michael Balcerak won all three of his individual events (500 free, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly) to earn American Athletic Conference Men’s Swimmer of the Year.
The 2020-21 season was also highlighted with a total of 42 All-Time Top Ten Times in school history and six school records broken: Blake Hanna in the 100m breaststroke and 200 breaststroke, the men's 200m freestyle relay, the men's 400m freestyle relay, the men's 200m medley relay, and the men's 400m medley relay.
The 2020-21 season also had academic success, with the highest men's and women's GPA in program history. The men finished the year with a 3.459 GPA and the women with a 3.727 GPA. There were also three UC One Team Award winners, with MateaSumajstorcic earning Newcomer of the Year, Camryn Streid the Student Athlete Award Winner, and Zach Baecker earned the Nancy Hamant Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.
Fortier dove in headfirst with the Bearcats in their 2019-2020 season. The Bearcats men’s Swimming & Diving team would go on to win first runner-up at the American Athletic Conference while the women would place third. The success didn’t stop there, with the Bearcats continuing to strive for success in the classroom as well with 26 women and 20 men being named to the AAC All-Academic Team. Din Selmanovic brought home multiple awards including scholar-athlete-of the year, postgraduate leadership award, UC's 2020 Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence, and was given the Jimmy Nippert Award at the 2020 One Team Honors.
Prior to his time in Louisiana, Fortier was a student assistant coach at Alabama and also spent time coaching the Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club and the Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club.Fortier competed as a student-athlete at Alabama. He was a US Olympic Trials qualifier and a top-eight finisher at the Jr. National Championships. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama in the summer of 2017.
UC Coaching Highlights
- 2022 AAC Men's runner-up
- 2021 AAC Men's runner-up
- 2020 AAC Men's runner-up
- 86 UC Top Ten Times
- 18 School Records
- 13 AAC Champions
- 1 AAC Freshman of the Year
- 13 Scholar All-Americans
- 3 All-Americans