Justin Hastings is entering his fifth season as an assistant coach for the Colorado Mesa University swimming teams. He has been a member of the Mavericks’ coaching staff under two different head coaches, who have combined to earn four RMAC Coach of the Year awards in his four previous years on the coaching staff.
In addition to assisting with all aspects of the program, Hastings is the program’s recruiting coordinator, which has brought in the talent necessary for the Mavericks to have swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles in both 2019 and 2020. CMU also set the men’s conference championship team-scoring record of 1,261 points in 2019 and the women’s record of 1,171 ½ points in 2020.
The Mavs also had their best-ever finishes at the national meets in 2019 and are undefeated in dual meets against RMAC foes throughout his entire coaching career.
Hastings also enjoyed a stellar career as a swimmer on the Maverick squad, earning five CSCAA Honorable Mention All-America honors in five different events over three different seasons from 2014-16. He also won six RMAC titles in his career, claiming five alone in 2014 as the Mavericks won their first RMAC team title. Additionally, he led off the first Maverick relay to score at nationals in 2016 swimming the backstroke leg on the 200 medley relay squad.
In that season, he won RMAC titles in the 100-yard butterfly, 100 back, 200 back and swam legs on the Mavs’ winning 200 and 400 free relay teams. He also won the 100 back in 2016.
Additionally, he still holds the school record in both the 100 (47.78) and 200-yard (1:46.55) backstrokes and ranks amongst the program’s top 10 in seven total individual events, including a No. 3 ranking in the 200 butterfly, an event he held the school record in until 2019, when former pupil Pedro Terres Illescas broke his school-record and No. 2 in the 50 backstroke which was broken last season by Lane Austin by a single hundredth of a second.
Hastings graduated from CMU in 2016 with a degree in health & fitness promotion and also obtained a professional certificate in personal training. He is also a certified Red Cross Lifeguard Instructor and Pool Operator.
Prior to his time at CMU as a student-athlete and coach, Hastings graduated from Cheyenne East High School in Wyoming’s capital city in 2009 before attending the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for a year before moving back home.
During his gap years, Hastings worked with developmentally disabled adults in both the home and day habilitation settings as a house manager and running the physical education program. He also was an assistant coach at Cheyenne East and for the Wyoming Waves club team, and coached all five of his divers to qualify for state, while helping both programs turn in their best state finishes and win individual state titles.
As a prep athlete, Hastings was one of the most accomplished Wyoming high school swimmers in state history, claiming multiple state titles, Wyoming Swimmer of the Year honors while setting numerous state records in both short and long course events. He was also a part of the most successful group of Wyoming swimmers as one of six to qualify for Junior and Senior Nationals in the same year (2008).
In addition to his coaching duties with the Mavericks, Hastings helps manage all aspects of running the nationally competitive El Pomar Natatorium pool along with maintenance and scheduling, something he has done since his senior year after obtaining his pool operator certification.
He has also coached all groups of the USA Swimming club team, MavAquatics, which trains in the El Pomar Natatorium helping swimmers rise from the novice group to now being high school students leading the Elite team.
He lives in Grand Junction along with his puppy Skadi.
