Emily Tuazon
Head Coach
Email
Emily's swimming career began at the age of 5 with the
Riverfront YMCA. By the age of 8 she had moved on to USA Swimming
where she made her first of several All-Stars meets as well as
qualifying for Zones. Over her USA career she had several high
point awards at State Championships. As a member of the swim team
at Dowling Catholic she qualified for State all 4 years, was the
school record holder in the 100 Backstroke and swam Backstroke on a
State Champion Medley Relay. Emily has coached for 2 different
teams before joining the Blaze in 2015.
Emily is currently enrolled at Iowa State University where she
is working to complete her degree in Education and earn her
teaching license. She loves being a part of the Blaze family and
helping pass along her love of swimming and competition!
Ellen Colville
Assistant Coach
Email
Ellen began swimming at the age of 8 for her local YMCA in
Newton. She soon realized she loved the sport and wanted to get
more competitive, so at the age of 11 she started swimming with USA
swim club Central Iowa Aquatics. There she qualified for several
big meets including All-Stars and Zones. Ellen swam for NCMP in
high school at Newton Senior High School where she set several
school records and qualified for the high school state meet all
four years. Her favorite events were the 200 IM and 500
freestyle.
Ellen ended her swimming career after high school and attended
Iowa State University for public relations. She is happy to be back
in the swimming world as a coach for Blaze and looks forward to
seeing the kids improve!
Savannah Orewiler
Assistant Coach
Email
Savannah's swimming career began at the age of 5. She has
participated at the YMCA as well as in USA Swimming. Her high
school years included being a part of 2 State Championships in
Softball as well as qualifying for State in Swimming as a Junior
and Senior. She has taught swimming lessons for over 4 years and
was an assistant swimming coach at Glen Oaks Country Club for 2
years before joining the Johnston Blaze.
Savannah is currently finishing up her degree in Chemical
Engineering at Iowa State University where she is a member of a
soriety and involved in several on-campus organizations. Savannah
loves being a part of the Blaze and watching how much the kids
improve each season!
Chelsea Kies
Assistant Coach
Email
Chelsea started her competitive swimming career at the age of 10
for the Keokuk YMCA Swim Team. In high school, Chelsea was a
four-year varsity letter holder for Keokuk High School and was a
state participant her sophomore year for the 4x100 Free Relay.
Throughout Chelsea’s high school swimming career, her
favorite races were 50 free, 100 free, various relays, and the 200
IM. Chelsea was a year-round athlete participating in track and
field with four Drake Relays and four State Meet appearances with a
7th and 5th place finish in long jump her junior and senior year;
as well as softball where she made three state appearances as
starting left fielder and her team placed 4th, 2nd, and 5th her
sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school. Once Chelsea
had graduated from high school and went to the University of
Northern Iowa, she continued to swim in college recreationally and
participated in intramural swim meets for fun! During winter and
spring breaks throughout college, Chelsea would come back to Keokuk
and volunteer coach for the YMCA swim program.
After graduating from UNI in May 2016 with a secondary education
degree, Chelsea taught and coached for Columbus Community School
District for two years before she moved to the Des Moines area in
2018. Chelsea is really excited to coach the Blaze team, share her
skills of swimming, and to learn new tips and tricks from the other
coaches!
Erin Still
Assistant Coach
Email
Erin began swimming at the age of twelve joining the Fort Dodge
YMCA swim team and volunteering as an assistant swim instructor.
She continued teaching swim lessons and coaching for the next 8
years being know as the swim instructor who prepared the children
for swim team. After swimming competitively her freshman year in
high school she realized she was far more interested in teaching
and coaching than competing. She took a break to raise two
daughters and work full time and is now happy to be back amongst
the swimmers and chlorine.
Anna Buman
Assistant Coach
Email
Anna grew up in a small town called Harlan, Iowa where they only
offered swim team during the summer season. She began swimming at
the age of 5 for the Harlan Community Swim Team and continued
swimming for the team until the summer before her senior year of
high school. She has taught swimming lessons for over 5 years
during her high school and college career.
Anna ended her swimming career after high school and attended
Iowa State University where she studied Elementary Education. She
is excited to be back working with kids, being a part of Blaze and
watching kids grow and improve their swimming skills!
