Lauran Allinson begins her first season as the Harvard women's swimming volunteer assistant coach.

A native of Wyckoff, N.J., and former Bergen Barracuda Swim Club member, Allinson is a 2006 graduate of Carleton College with an undergraduate degree in psychology. While at Carleton, Allinson was a four-year member of the Knights’ swimming and diving team, as well as captain and most valuable member her senior year. 

Upon graduation, Allinson worked as a counselor in student life and as the head girls’ and assistant boys’ swimming and diving coach at Culver Academies, an independent, boarding school in Culver, Ind.

Allinson helped to organize and continues to participate in the national Ted Mullin Hour of Power Relay, an event that honors Mullin, who was a former teammate of Allinson's at Carleton. The event was founded to create awareness of sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer. 

Allinson received her masters in education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2008.  She has returned to HGSE this year to gain her licensure as a school counselor and looks to translate her knowledge of counseling and relationship building into coaching as she begins her career as a collegiate coach.