Sean Christopher Farrell
Head Coach
Email
Sean joined the staff as Head Coach in September of 1999. During his tenure with the Sea Dogs, Sean has produced several senior national qualifiers, an Olympic Trials Qualifier, 17 Individual YMCA National Champions and 6 Relay YMCA National Champions. His swimmers have broken 25 Individual Connecticut, 14 Connecticut Relay Records and have earned over 430 YMCA All-American Honors. Additionally, he was named the Connecticut Senior Coach of the Year in 2001 and was nominated for that honor in 2002, 2005 and 2008. Sean was voted the 2008 LC YMCA National Coach of the Meet by his peers and was nominated for the 2009 YMCA Coach of the Year. A 1988 graduate of Cheshire High School, Sean returned to Cheshire after being the Head Coach of the Westfield (NJ) YMCA from 1998-1999. In addition Sean was the Head Coach of the Sun Devil Aquatics in Tempe, Arizona and the Assistant Coach with the Arizona State University from 1995-1998. During his tenure with ASU, the squad established a NCAA Division I top-10 team ranking all 3 years and his resume includes working with 10 Olympians, 15 Division I All-Americans and 5 Pac-10 Champions. Sean earned a BS degree in Biology at Southern Connecticut State University. While at Southern, he earned Division II All-American honors and was a multiple swim team record holder. After graduating, Sean was the assistant coach for Southern’s Men’s Swim Team from 1993-95. As well as being the Head Coach for Sea Dogs, he was also the Connecticut YMCA Swim League President from 2001-2003, Program Development Chair for Connecticut Swimming from 2004-2006 and is currently on the Connecticut Swimming Technical Planning Committee.
Cassie Novak Maliar
Head Developmental Coach
Email
Cassie is joining the
Cheshire Sea Dogs as the Head Developmental Coach and will
primarily be working with the Buccaneer and Preteam groups.
She has been involved in swimming for over 25 years and during her
swimming career, she was a 4x YMCA National Qualifier and was one
of CDOG'S first Short Course YMCA National Champions in 2001 in the
200 yard backstroke and a member of the 400 yard medley
relay. Cassie was also a varsity member of the Cheshire High
School Girls Swim team and was a 4x All-American Swimmer in the 200
and 500 Freestyle and a member of the 400 freestyle relay.
She went on to swim at The University of Connecticut and was
awarded Most Valuable Swimmer, UCONN club award and was a Captain
of the varsity team her senior year. During that time she was
a Senior National Qualifier, US Open Qualifier and Big East
Finalist. Cassie graduated the University of Connecticut with
a bachelors degree in Kinesiology specializing in Coaching and
Administration. She then went to Central Connecticut State
University and did some work on her masters degree in Physical
Education and Human Performance while working as the Graduate
Assistant with the swim team and the club team. While there,
she worked with Division 1 NCAA Qualifiers and multiple Senior and
Junior National Qualifiers. In 2008 she was appointed
the head coach of the Farmington Valley YMCA in Granby and started
the USA component to the team while developing the team into a top
YMCA Yankee Cluster team with multiple CT Age Group Champions and
CT Zone Team Qualifiers. In 2013 she relocated to
Cheshire and she was an age group assistant swim coach for CDOG
from 2013-2017. Cassie lives in Cheshire with her husband,
Dave and their 3 kids; Christopher, Emmalyn and
Alexander.
Rosanne Tejeda
Assistant Coach - BUC & AG 1/2/3
Email
Rosanne has been with the
Sea Dogs since 2014, and has been an age group swimming coach since
2005. Rosanne grew up in Hamden, CT and swam for Hamden High
School. She attended Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ on
a Division I scholarship for swimming. She set team records while
at Rider University in the 500, 1000 and 1650yd freestyle events.
She was named co-captain her senior year. She graduated cum
laude, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Business
Administration and went on to receive her MBA at Rider. She
spent many years in the marketing field. She currently resides in
Cheshire, CT with her husband and 3 daughters.
Karen Novak
Assistant Coach - PT & BUC
Email
Karen joined the CDOG
coaching staff in May of 2015 and has been a part of the Cheshire
Y/Sea Dog Swim Club since 2000. During her time as an athlete
for CDOG she was a four-time YMCA National Qualifier for the summer
and spring YMCA nationals; a top 16 swimmer in Connecticut in
2008-2010; as well as having been the recipient of the Coaches
Award, Most Improved, and Captains Award.
Karen grew up in Cheshire
and was a four-year member of the Cheshire High School Girls
swimming and diving team where she contributed to the national
record holding team for most consecutive dual meet wins. She was
also a state, state open, and SCC finalist all four years; Class LL
runner-up her freshman and sophomore years; and Class L runner-up
her senior year. She was a member of four SCC league championship
teams and one Class LL State Championship Team her junior year.
Individually she was Class L State Champion in the 200 free relay
and the 500 free; and was the Class L record holder in the 400 free
relay her senior year. She was also awarded team captain and was
tabbed as the Most Valuable Swimmer her senior
year.
After high school, Karen
earned her BA degree in English while majoring in Elementary
Education at Central Connecticut State University. Along with
earning her degree, she swam four years of Division 1 at CCSU where
she was a member of the North East Conference Championship Team in
2015. She primarily swam mid to long distance freestyle events such
as the 200, 500, & 1650. In the classroom, Karen has been
awarded the Scholar Athlete Award for High Academic Achievement,
Dean's List, and President's List during her time at
CCSU.
Karen is a certified
Elementary Education Teacher and has recently completed her
Master’s Degree in Special Education Literacy from the
University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford.
Jess Demirs
Assistant Coach - PT 1, BUC 1, & AG 1/2
Email
Jess joined the CDOG
coaching staff in April of 2018. Previously, she was an age group /
developmental coach at Amity Regional Aquatic Club. She was also
Head Coach of the Watertown High School Boys Swimming and Diving
team for the 2017-2018 season. Jess grew up in Watertown, CT and
was a four-year member of the swimming and diving team at Watertown
High School. She was a part of the team that went undefeated her
senior year as well as winning an NVL title. After high school,
Jess attended Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven,
CT where she was a 3-year team member of the Swimming/Diving team.
She was also a part of the winning Northeast-10 Conference team in
2017. While she was a member of the team, she swam primarily
breaststroke and IM events. She recently graduated with her
Bachelor of Arts in Biology from SCSU.
