Buenaventura Swim Club : Coaches & Directors

Jason York - Head Coach/National Group/Bronze Group email Coach Jason has been a youth and masters swim coach since 1996, beginning his career with swim clubs in Chico and Oroville. In 1999, he joined the coaching team at the nationally-renowned Santa Clara Swim Club and was mentored by Dick Jochums, a legendary coach who produced numerous Olympians. During his eight years at Santa Clara, Jason coached pre-competitive and age-group swimmers, assisted with senior and national teams and founded a successful pre-masters team. He was named Pacific Swimming Western Zone All-Star Coach in 2006 and 2007. He is certified as a Level Three coach by the American Swimming Coaches Association. Coach Jason’s swimming background includes starting at the Santa Clara Swim Club at the age of seven and training with the club through high school. He was a scholarship swimmer at UCSB, where he helped lead the Gauchos to two Big West Conference titles. His personal swimming achievements include Far Westerns Champion, Junior National Qualifier, Senior National Qualifier and Olympic Trials Qualifier. A high school All-American and CIF-CCS champion, he was a Pacific Swimming and National Age Group record holder, including helping to set one national record that still stands in the Boys, 13-14, 800 Freestyle Relay. Coach Jason is committed to maintaining the high standards of performance at Buenaventura and is motivated to create champions by developing the character and potential of each athlete.

» Betsy Harrison - Senior Coach/Bronze Group Coach email

Lee Anne Ghimenti - Gold Group Coach email Lee Anne Ghimenti began her coaching career 9 years ago in Chicago, coaching the Whitney Young High School girls swim team to 4 consecutive city titles and the boys team to one title. Lee Anne joined Buenaventura Swim Club as a coach in 2005 after a two-year stint with Conejo Simi Aquatics, where she coached one of her boy swimmers to a Junior Olympic title in the 50 freestyle. Coach Lee Anne also guided the Camarillo High School Varsity and JV squads to league titles in 2002. Lee Anne holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois in Chicago, and a Masters degree in Education. A full-time middle school Physical Education teacher, Lee Anne holds clear credentials in Physical Education and Counseling. Lee Anne is also a 3-time National Champion Masters swimmer, and has numerous national Top 10 rankings. She is a 6-year member of our Ventura County Masters swim team.

Martin A Armstrong - Silver Group Coach/Masters Coach email Coach Marty came to Ventura 10 years ago via San Diego where he began swimming at 5 years of age in the backyard pool. Not until the age of 10 did he start swimming competitively with the encouragement of his mom and he hasn’t stopped swimming since. During his age group years and into master’s swimming, butterfly and IM’s became the events of choice, along with open water events. All this time in the pool, translated into his passion for any activity associated with water: wakeboarding, surfing, boggie-boarding, diving, fishing, body-surfing, paddling, kayaking…..you get the picture. An Alumni of Cal Poly, SLO with a degree in Landscape Architecutre, he currently runs his own design office working on a long list of outdoor projects. His companions in all this fun include his wife April, the little ones Lily (8) and Fin (4), and O’Malley the Dog. Coach Marty comes to Buenaventura Swim Club and Ventura County Masters with a specific goal: have fun. So come to the pool, learn something new and start enjoying the lifelong sport of swimming.

Matt Olexiewicz - Pre-Competitive Group/Masters Coach email

» Kurtis Baron - Strength & Conditioning Coach email