Lisl Prater-Lee recently completed her 28th season as the Vassar College head men's and women's swimming and diving coach in 2021-22. Prater-Lee joined Vassar in 1993, and has steadily increased the squad size as the program continues to improve.
Under her guidance, Vassar has produced three All-Americans on the women’s side; the most recent coming in 2019 with Jesse
Ecklund's '22 fourth place finish in the 200-backstroke, the highest finish by any female Brewer at the swimming & diving nationals. Prior to
Ecklund, the 2015 season saw Julia Cunningham '17 place seventh in the 200 butterfly. Prater-Lee has coached 10 NCAA qualifiers on the women’s side between the swimming and diving programs, while her staff was named the 2020 and the 2005 Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year.
Prater-Lee's Brewers on both the men's and women's sides have experienced immense success during her tenure. This past season, Vassar powered its way to fourth-place overall on both the men's and women's sides at the Liberty League Championships. The women's squad had an outstanding effort, recording 11 total All-Conference honors, including the 100-backstroke and 200-backstroke champion in senior Jesse Ecklund - who qualified for the NCAA Championships in both events, while also producing a new school record in the 100-back. Junior Lillian Lowenthal also had an outstanding effort this season, culminating in six All-League Second Team honors, including three individually in the 100-butterfly, 200-butterfly and 200-breast - which she recorded a school record and NCAA B Cut.
The women's squad also saw four outstanding relay efforts, culminating in top-three podium finishes. The 400-free and the 400-medley relays each placed second for All-Second Team honors, while the 800-free and 200-free relays were third overall for Honorable Mention. In the classroom, the Brewers continued to excel as 13 from the men's team and 13 from the women's team garnered Liberty League All-Academic honors.
During the 2019-20 campaign, the Brewers squads both finished fourth at the Liberty League Championships, with
Ecklund being named the 2019-20 Swimmer of the Year, which came off the heels of her Rookie of the Year honor at the league meet the year before. Vassar saw four individual league victories - two from Ecklund and one each by Robbie Perot '23 in the 1650-free and Lillian Lowenthal '23 in the 200-butterfly, while the women's squad garnered three relay victories (400-medley, 400-free, 800-free).
The Brewers have also excelled in the classroom under Prater-Lee’s tutelage, as the squads combined for 20 Liberty League All-Academic selections during the 2019-20 campaign. Both squads also earned the
CSCAA Scholar All-America Team Awards.
After graduating from Oberlin (Ohio) College with bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Sport Psychology, Prater-Lee attended the University of Iowa. She served as graduate assistant coach for the women's program, which competes in the Big 10.
Upon completion of her master's in Sport Psychology, she returned to Oberlin in 1991. She guided the
Yoemen for two years before taking the head coaching position at Vassar.
Prater-Lee also works at various summer camps and clinics.
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