David Belowich is at the top of the mountain - for now.

He is coaching the best swimming team in Carnegie Mellon University history - for now.

He is beardless - for now.

The Renfrew resident recently was named NCAA Division III Coach of the Year after leading the Tartans' men's swimming squad to a best-ever third-place finish at the national meet in St. Peter's, Mo.

"When I stepped on the podium to receive that award, I was humbled because it came through a vote of my peers," Belowich said.

Kenyon (Ohio) College won the NCAA Division III title for a 25th consecutive year. Emory (Ga.) finished second and CMU was third.

Two years ago, a CMU swimmer challenged Belowich to shave off his beard, which the coach has worn for years, if his team ever finished second at nationals.

"He said Kenyon didn't count because they win it every year," Belowich said.

This year, despite taking only 10 swimmers to nationals, the Tartans finished third. All 10 of CMU's national qualifiers, including Butler graduate and CMU senior Brian Belowich, earned All-American status by finishing among the top eight in their respective events.

Kenyon had 18 swimmers at nationals, as did Emory. Fourth-place Johns Hopkins had 16.

"All of our guys contributed," Belowich said. "I preach to them all the time about scoring in the morning prelims - where you determine if you're in the top 16 - and racing at night.

"When you're relaxing and having fun, you're in a better situation for performance," he added.

CMU pulled off its third-place finish - and the shaving of Belowich's beard - despite losing national qualifier Steve Chiou.

Chiou quit the team the Monday after the conference meet - five weeks before nationals.

"Steve told me he just didn't want to do it anymore," Belowich said. "That was fine, I respected his decision, but the timing couldn't have been worse.

"The conference meet was the last time you can qualify someone for nationals, so I had to juggle the qualifiers I already had to replace Steve's spot in the relays."

The Tartans put together their best national finish anyway. The younger Belowich was part of the 400-yard medley relay team that placed fifth at nationals.

"He was the captain of our team at nationals and was the one who accepted our trophy," the elder Belowich said. "Seeing him and the rest of the team holding that trophy, next to my holding the Coach of the Year award, was pretty special.

"It's like you strive for years to get to the top of a mountain. You get there and on the way back down, you're thinking that was pretty cool. But then you see another mountain.

"It may not be quite as big, but that's OK. You want to climb it anyway," he added.

Belowich is staring at a smaller mountain now. His team is graduating 14 swimmers, including five of the 10 who swam at nationals.

Brian Belowich is a civil engineering major who will pursue a master's in project management next year.

"He understands people really well," Belowich said of his son. "He was one of the best captains I've ever had. I say that as his coach, not as his father."

Belowich's older son, Sean, also swam for him at CMU. He is studying to be a physical therapist at Slippery Rock University.

"I don't know what our goals will be next year," Belowich said. "Maybe it will be to finish fifth at nationals, maybe the top 10. It depends on the team. Every year is different."

But this year was memorable.

Belowich's wife, Cheryl, along with son Sean, were among a contingent of nearly 50 CMU supporters at the national meet. Chris O'Rourke, his first-ever captain at CMU, flew in from North Carolina.

Belowich coached two national champions this year: Brian McCarthy in the 400 individual medley and Chris Pearson in the 200 freestyle. McCarthy swam a national record time of 3 minutes 53.99 seconds, while Pearson netted a school-record time of 1:37.70.

In his eighth year at CMU, Belowich won his 100th career meet there in January. His men's and women's teams earned Academic All-American honors for a combined 15th consecutive semester.

His women's team had a combined 3.59 grade point average this year, tops in all of Division III. The squad has seven 4.0 students.

"I feel like I have a pretty good intellect, and as talented as these kids are as swimmers, I enjoy them more as people," said Belowich, 53.

"I'll be the coach here as long as they want me. They'll probably have to drag me away kicking and screaming. And I will grow my beard back," he added.

A 1972 Grove City College graduate, Belowich spent 12 years as coach of the University of Pittsburgh women's swim team. He won nine consecutive Big East titles there and was Big East Coach of the Year five times.

He has also coached at Indiana (Pa.) University, Florida State and the University of South Florida.