Ryan P Sprang
Head Coach/Swim Team Director
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Ryan began his coaching career with GCIT/GPAC as an assistant age group and senior coach in 2002. Since that time he has coached club, high school, and summer league in New Jersey; club/YMCA in Virginia; and Club/YMCA and high school in Pennsylvania. Some of Ryan's coaching stops include:
GCIT/GPAC: 2002-2006
Greenwood Park Summer Club: 2002-2005 (Tri-County Champions in 2004)
St. Augustine Prep High School: 2002-2006 (NJ State Champions in 2004 & 2005)
Shenendoah Marlins Aquatic Club: 2006-2009 (Virginia Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year in 2008)
West Short YMCA: 2009-2010
Nittany Lion Aquatic Club: 2010-2017
State College Area High School: 2012-2017
Throughout his career, Ryan has coached numerous USA Swimming sectional, Junior National, and Senior National qualifiers. He has also coached several swimmers as age groupers who went>
Adam G Ritchie
Platinum A/Dryland Coordinator
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Adam
started his coaching career in 2008 at Sunnybrook Summer Swim Club
in Moorestown NJ where he was the head coach for 7 seasons.
Adam also began coaching at the South Jersey Aquatic Club (SJAC) in
2011. After one year as an assistant coach, Adam spent the
last 8 years as the head coach for the National Team. During
his time at SJAC, Adam has coached numerous swimmers to NCSA and
USA Swimming Junior National cuts. He also has coached many
USA Swimming Scholar-Athlete recipients as well as a NJ High School
State Champion. Adam graduated from, and swam for, Lehigh
University. He is currently employed as a school
psychologist, is a big CrossFit enthusiast, and loves pretty much
any type of physical activity.
Stephanie Maria Wyzykowski
Head Coach Silver & Intro
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Stephanie joins us for her 5th season coaching at GPAC.
Over the last four years, she was the head coach
of Mini group, has taught swim lessons and assisted
with Platinum A & Gold 1-2. For the third year,
she will
be the Silver team's head coach and for the 2nd
year, she will be the head coach of Intro to
GPAC .
Stephanie has been coaching for 13 years, including summer
league in Bethlehem PA for 6 years, one year at Widener
University & Suburban Swim Club, coaching all ages 5-21 years
old.
Stephanie was recruited to attend Kutztown University where her
swimming career took off. She qualified for the NCAA Championships
her junior & senior year, finishing 2nd in the 200
Breaststroke both years; earning All-American status in four
events and honorable mention in three events. She currently
holds 12 team & pool records at Kutztown which includes being
apart of 4 out of 5 relays, 100, 200 Breaststroke & 200, 400
IM. She was also named Kutztown's Athlete of the Year & Senior
Athlete of the Year in 2010; she
was
inducted into the Hall of Fame of Athletics in November
2017.
After graduating from Kutztown with a Bachelor’s
Degree in Sports Management & a minor in Coaching, she
continued her swimming career by trying out for Denmark’s
National Team. Being that Stephanie & her family are from
Denmark, she was recruited to try out for the 2012 Olympic Team. At
Denmark's 2012 Olympic Trials, Stephanie finished 4th
overall in the 100, 200 Breaststroke & 200 IM, only narrowly
missing their Olympic team cutoff.
Stephanie continues to swim when she has time and she's hoping
to return to competing in Traithlons next year. Her & her
husband, Kevin, currently live in Deptford, with their baby girl
named Brynn, who will be 2 years old in
January! They enjoy
spending time with their families and pretty much anything else
health & fitness related!
David W Wakeley
Head Coach Bronze
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David Wakeley has been
coaching for the past 15 years in the Middle Atlantic Swimming
LSC. In addition, he did some summer coaching in State
College, PA while in college. He brings great excitement and
enthusiasm to pool deck … and his engineering
background. He encourages his swimmers to achieve their
highest level possible and not be satisfied with average
performance. Many of the swimmers have achieved levels of
participation in the following events: Mini Champs (including
high point winners and record holders), Junior Olympics (including
individual and are group high point winners and record holders), MA
Zone Team (including top 8 finishers), USA Swimming Top Sixteen,
Sectionals (including top 8 and 16 finishers), Junior Nationals,
Nationals, US Open and Olympic Trials (2012). He has also
served 3 years as a MA Zone coach and 1 summer as Head MA Zone
coach. He has earned a reputation as a stickler for stroke
mechanic detail and is a true student of the coaching
profession. He will leave no stone unturned to encourage our
swimmers improve at every level of their development. He
enjoys seeing his swimmers continue to improve at college level and
beyond.
Coach Dave and his wife
have six children: Jonathan (Liberty University), Joshua (Penn
State University), Bethany (Liberty University), Hannah (Liberty
University), and Peter and Laura. He graduated with a degree
in Electrical Engineering from Bucknell University and brings his
scientific, technical bent to his coaching. He competed on
the colleges swimming and water polo teams and set the 200
Butterfly school record and swam the butterfly leg in the 400
Medley Relay team which set the freshman school
record.
Gregory Fondacaro
Head Coach Minis
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Coach Nick started swimming competitively at age 9 for the
Greenwood Park swim team, and swam with the team from 2006 until he
graduated in 2015. In addition to Greenwood Park, Nick swam with
GCIT Swimming/GPAC from 2007-2013, and swam for most of the coaches
he currently works with. From 2011-2015, he swam on the St.
Augustine Prep swim team, serving as a captain his senior year. His
specialty stroke was butterfly, and he qualified for the state
championships his senior year in the 100-yard
butterfly. After his swimming career ended in high
school, Nick wanted to pass the knowledge he learned, as well as
love for the sport, on to others, and he found coaching was the
perfect avenue. Nick began coaching for Greenwood Park Frogs in
2016 and has served as 1st assistant for the past 2
summers, and continues to coach for the team in the summer. He was
an assistant at TNT Swimming at Rowan University, working with his
former coach, Tony Lisa, from 2016-2017. Currently, Nick is in his
senior year at St. Joseph’s University, where he is majoring
in Sports Marketing. The Hawk will never die! Nick began
coaching at GPAC in as an assistant for the Bronze, Gold 1, and
Gold 2 groups this past fall. This is his second season with the
team, and his goals are to help the swimmers he coaches have a
better understanding of the sport, foster their love for swimming,
and to enjoy themselves in the process. Most of all, he hopes to
continue to learn from the fantastic coaching staff he works with.
Go GPAC!
Justin T Harvie
Platinum B
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Justin
started his coaching career in 2014 at Whitman Square Swim Club in
Washington Township NJ. He spent his first few seasons with the
team as an assistant coach until he was named Head Coach in 2017.
This is Justin's first year coaching for GPAC, but he's no stranger
to the GPAC family. He started swimming for GPAC when he was just 8
years old, and he continued to grow with the team until he
graduated in 2013. After graduating high school, Justin was
recruited to swim for Towson University. In 2017, Justin graduated
from Towson with a degree in Elementary
Education.
Nicholas R Marks
Head Coach Gold 1
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Nick began his coaching
career in the fall of 2017 as an assistant at Rowan
University. Nick
joined our staff in 2018 as an assistant on several groups. Nick is a former GPAC
swimmer and was the NJSIAA high school state champion in the 100
butterfly his senior year. While a member of the GPAC National
group, Nick was a Junior National qualifier and sectional finalist.
Nick attended the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY
for two years before transferring to Rowan for his junior and
senior years. While at Rowan, Nick was a two time NCAA qualifier
and a multiple NCAA All-American. Nick graduated from Rowan in 2018
with a degree in Law and Justice and a minor in
Psychology.
Linda DuBois
Head Coach Technique & Fitness
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Shannon McKinnon
Assistant Coach
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Coach Shannon McKinnon has
a love for the sport of swimming. She has been a part of the sport
since 1985.
For thirteen years, she swam for the Tri-County team of Greenwood
Park and was an assistant with
the youngest groups during her last two years there. Coach Shannon
participated in four years of
high school swimming, and continued to swim at Division I Towson
University. Throughout her swimming
career, Coach Shannon received many medals and awards swimming the
sprint and middle distance
freestyles, IM, fly, and backstroke events.
Coach Shannon started
coaching again as an assistant for the Ocean City High School
Raiders back in 2006
and was the head coach of their diving team. From there, she moved
back up this way and in 2007 became
and currently continues to be the head coach of the Gloucester City
High School Lions, where she
also teaches Biology to sophomores and seniors. In 2008, she became
the head assistant coach at
Greenwood Park until 2013, when she became the head coach for a
summer. She has aided in the TNT
program over at Rowan University until 2010. The fall of 2009, she
joined the Greater Philadelphia Aquatics
Club coaching staff, and has worked with the Mini, Bronze, Silver,
Gold and Senior 1 groups as an
assistant. She has been the head coach for the Fall and Spring Warm
ups. This past summer of 2014, she
was the head coach of the Riverton Waves.
Coach Shannon currently
lives in Glendora with her husband, daughter and two dogs. She
enjoys football,
especially watching the Giants. She has played soccer for eight
years and was a dancer for 15 years.
She currently still surfs and snowboards when the opportunity comes
around.
Matthew R Simmermon
Assistant Coach
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Stephen Tucker
Assistant Coach
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Stephen Tucker is entering his 12th
year of coaching and 2nd year with GPAC coaching Bronze
and Platinum Level
Groups. Stephen began
his swimming career at Vineland YMCA and Elmer Swim Team, where he
swam since the age of 6. He went to Sacred Heart High
School where he was a four year varsity letter winner, holding
numerous team records and was a 3-time State Qualifier as well as
team captain his senior year. He continued his education and
swimming career at Rowan University under Longtime Former Head
Coach Tony Lisa. He was selected captain his junior and senior year
and also earned multiple All Conference and All-Academic honors
including Philadelphia Inquirer All Academic Team his senior
year. He graduated in
2010 with a B.A. in Health and Physical Education. He was also Head
Coach at Sterling High School from 2011-2013 where he led the team
to back to back division championships and was selected SJISA South
Jersey Coach of the year in 2012. Tucker is currently the Head Coach
at Elmer Swim Club since 2014. He has guided the team to an
extensive list of team championships and numerous club and league
records. He currently teaches in the Bridgeton Public School
District as a Health and Physical Education Teacher.
Olivia N Cann
Assistant Coach
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Sean F McCall
Head Coach Fall Warm-up
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Sean has been part of the GPAC (formerly
GCIT Swimming) family since he was 8 years old when
the McCall family joined the team in September of
2000. Sean has swum in every group GPAC has
provided from Minis to Elite. In high school, as a member
of the Elite group, Sean won the 2009 NJ High
School Individual State Championships in the 500 free
and was a Junior National qualifier in all Freestyle,
Fly, and 400 IM events.
Sean continued his swimming career in
college locally in Philadelphia at La
Salle University where he studied Pre-Law and received
a degree in Criminal Justice in May 2014. In
college, Sean was team captain on the La Salle Men’s
Swimming and Diving team where he was an Atlantic
10 Conference Finalist all 4 years of his college
career. Sean now works as a financial advisor
for Northwestern Mutual locally in the Philadelphia
area and is more than happy to still be a part of
our GPAC community.
Michael V Gadzinski
Head Masters Coach, Asst Silver Coach
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Coach Mike has been running the Masters Group since 2013. Mike has worked with Silver and other AG groups throughout the year. He has coached in both Tri County and Suburban summer swim leagues and is also a USA Triathlon Level 1 certified coach.
Coach Mike began his swimming career as a summer swimmer at Greenwood Park in Turnersville NJ in the early 80s. He went on to swim at Jersey Wahoos, Gloucester Cathlolic, Clemson University and Widener University. Coach Mike was primarily a 100, 200 Breaststroke and 200, 400 IM speacilist.
Coach Mike currently lives in Washington Twp with his wife Kim, daughter Kacie and son Andrew. He has been racing Triathlon since 2006 and has been consistently ranked in the Top 10 in the US every season since 2007. One of his biggest achievements was racing in Kona at the Ironman World Championships in 2012. He also enjoys ice hockey and regulartly plays in the over 40 mens league at Hollydell. He also enjoy surfing and watching his kids swim and play hockey.
Matthew Sprang
President/CEO/CFO
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Matthew has
been with GCIT/GPAC since 1998 and has served as an assistant
coach, Head Age Group Coach, and Head Coach. He became owner of the
program, changing the name to Greater Philadelphia Aquatic Club, in
September, 2008. Matthew has been a USA Swimming National Team
Coach twice (2015 & 2016); Head Coach for the East Women at the
2007 NCSA All-American team in Honolulu, Hawaii; and Head Coach of
the Central Zone Select Camp (2014). He has also served as a USA
Swimming National Team Manager for the World University Games (2013
in Kazan, Russia) and World Junior Championships (2015 in
Singapore). Matthew has served on the Middle Atlantic Swimming
Board of Directors since 2006 and is currently the Chair of the
Performance Division.
Matthew
holds a Masters degree from Temple University in Sports and
Recreation Administration. He lives in Gloucester County with his
wife, Tjitske, and two children, Keegan and Marley. He enjoys
spending time with his family, books on American history, rooting
for Philadelphia sports teams, and Crossfit.
