Kelly Rose McCullough
Head Coach
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Coach Kelly Rose
McCullough began coaching at the age of 16 for her local YMCA swim
team in Spencer, Iowa. After graduating from the University of
Northern Iowa in 2011 with a degree in Business Administration
Management and Accounting, Coach Kelly Rose went to work for the
Sioux Falls Snowfox Swim Team. During her four years with Snowfox,
she served as the Head Age Group Coach and Administrative Assistant
to the Board of Directors. She was also the Head All-Stars Coach
and Head Zones Team Coach for Team South Dakota for three years.
Coach Kelly Rose moved out Northern Virginia in June of 2015 and
began coaching with the FISH. She was the Head Mini FISH Coach for
two years while also assisting with the other groups on the team.
Coach Kelly Rose is now currently coaching for NCAP Tyson's where
she is lead coach for the Silver 1 program, Bronze 1 AM,
Bronze 2B, and HSP while assisting with the Gold 2 program as well.
In Kelly Rose's spare time she gives lessons at Swim Box in
Arlington. This will be Coach Kelly Rose's fifth season with the
Whomping Turtles and she cannot wait for another great
summer!
Jessica Cruzado
Lead Assistant Head Coach
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Jessica was a year-round competitive swimmer through high school.
She swam for Highlands from ages 12 to 18, and joined the
Highlands’ Coaching Staff as a Coach-in-Training when she was
15. This will be Jessica’s 11th year coaching. She graduated
in 2019 from the College of William & Mary with a bachelor's in
Chemistry and Computer Science. Jessica also coaches a
developmental stroke school program for NCAP Tyson's and coaches
the Bronze 2B group.
Dan McGuire
Lead Technical Coach
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Coach Dan has been swimming since the age of 6 and move to northern
VA when he was 13, where he swam for the tiny NVSL team, the
Fairfax Club Estates Flippers. He also swam club for both NCAP and
Machine through his high school years. He then shipped off to the
distant land of Fredericksburg, VA to attend the University of Mary
Washington where he majored in Spanish and Linguistics and also
swam on the team for all 4 years. During college, he also coached
for his former NVSL team, Fairfax Club Estates, where they started
in division 14 and made it all the way up to division 7. Since
2018, he has been coaching for NCAP Marymount, where he is
currently the Head Senior Group coach and Bronze group coach as
well as working for SwimBox, a company that does video analysis of
swim strokes in an endless pool. His entire life is now dedicated
to making sure kids are not only swimming faster, but also swimming
injury free. He's looking forward to his second summer with
Highlands this year!
Alex Vaillant
Technical Coach
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Coach Alex is excited
to be returning for her fourth season as our
Highlands Technical Coach. Alex currently coaches year round at The
Fish for their Mini program. She was a swimmer for BASS swimming in
Virginia, and is a graduate of Virginia Tech. She believes that
hard work, dedication, and fun are the keys to
success.
Kelsey Isman
Assistant Head Coach
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Coach Kelsey is a rising junior at Wesleyan University where she is
a member of the swim team. She graduated from Yorktown High School
in 2019. She was a member of the swim team at Yorktown and also
swam for Clark Swim Club. She was a member of the Highlands team
from ages 7-18. In addition to coaching the Whomping Turtles, she
has coached for Norman Swimming, Marymount Developmental Swim Team,
Marymount Swim School, and the Arlington Adapted Aquatics program.
She has been coaching private lessons up at Wesleyan as well. She
looks forward to a great season!
Maggie Campion
Assistant Head Coach
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This summer is Maggie's sixth year coaching at Highlands. Maggie
swam for 12 years from ages 7-18. She also coached volleyball for 3
years and played basketball for McLean High School. Maggie has
experience with swimmers and people of all abilities as she has
coached adaptive swim classes in the past and has been a part of
Best Buddies since middle school. She has been a Mini Whomper's
coach for most of her time at Highlands but she enjoys working with
all ages. She just finished her freshman year at James Madison
University where she is studying Special Education. She is excited
for another great season at Highlands!
Daniel Isman
Assistant Coach
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Coach Dan is a rising senior at Yorktown High School. He has been
swimming at Highlands since he was six years old and he has coached
the past two years as well. He also swims at NCAP Marymount year
round and coaches for Norman Swimming. Additionally, he has coached
children and adults with special needs at Arlington Adapted
Aquatics since eighth grade. His favorite events are breaststroke
and IM, but he enjoys teaching everything. He is looking forward to
a great season!
Skye Sunderhauf
Assistant Coach
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Skye has been a Whomping Turtle since 6 years old and is now a
recent graduate of McLean High School. She swims year-round with
The Fish and is committed to swim and study next year at Bucknell
University. Skye has been a coach at Norman Swimming for four years
and this will be her third year coaching at Highlands. Last summer,
her favorite part of being a coach was seeing her swimmers improve
from the beginning of the season to the end! Skye loves all the
strokes, especially butterfly and breaststroke. She can't wait for
another summer with the Highlands Whomping Turtles and is ready to
help the kids get faster and most importantly, have
fun!
Allison Martin
Assistant Coach
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This summer is Allison's fourth season as a Highlands coach. She
has been a Whomping Turtle since she was seven, and swims
year-round with The Fish. She is a recent graduate of Georgetown
Visitation, and is committed to swim and study at Columbia
University in the fall. Allison loves to swim IM and butterfly. She
is super excited for her last summer as a Highlands swimmer and her
last season with the Turtles!
Christopher Stewart
Assistant Coach
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Chris Stewart is excited for his fourth year as a Highlands Coach
and his eleventh year as a Whomping Turtle. He just graduated from
Gonzaga, and will be studying engineering at Cornell in the fall.
Chris is a huge supporter of the Whomping Turtles and absolutely
loves watching the kids learn new skills and develop into awesome
swimmers during the summer.
Greer Schuman
Assistant Coach
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Greer Schuman is a
rising freshman planning on going to East Carolina University. She
was a competitive swimmer from age 8-13 on the Fish swim team. She
also swam on varsity swimming at Bishop O'Connell. Greer has been
apart of the whomping turtles since 2008. Last year she was an
assistant coach for the Mini Whomper's program. She is so excited
for the 2021 swim season and can't wait to see what it has in
store! Go whomping turtles!
Forrest Spencer
Assistant Coach
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Forrest Spencer graduated Trinity Christian School where he played
lacrosse and has been a member of the Highlands coaching staff
since 2018 and swam for the team for numerous
years.
Megan Craven
Assistant Coach
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Megan has been coaching for about five years now. She began
coaching at the Langley Club and switched over to swim for
Highlands about three years ago upon and has coached for the
Whomping Turtles ever since. She swims year-round for Machine
Aquatics and will be swimming at Johns Hopkins next year. Megan's
favorite strokes are breaststroke and freestyle but enjoys swimming
and coaching backstroke and fly as well. Watching the kids she
works with grow to be not only great swimmers in the pool but also
better leaders outside of the pool is truly one of the greatest
experiences for her. She can't imagine a better team to be on for
her last summer swimming for NVSL. Go Turtles!
Adam Kunz
Assistant Coach
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This
summer is Adam’s 11th season swimming with the Highlands Swim
Team. A rising freshman at UChicago, Adam enjoys team building,
coaching, and mentoring youth. He has worked with children as a
mentor for the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) at McLean Youth
Soccer and as a math tutor. At McLean High School, Adam plays
varsity soccer and is a President of the
Biology Olympiad. He also enjoys playing competitive
soccer with the Arlington Soccer Association, where his team
is Virginia State Champions, and basketball with Mclean Youth
Basketball.
He has been swimming at the club since he was 8, and this is his
third year coaching at Highlands. Adam loves swimming and coaching
for Highlands, and is looking forward to a great summer with the
team!
Hanna Boughanem
Assistant Coach
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Hanna has been a Whomping Turtle since she was nine years old, and
has loved being a part of the Highlands family! She has worked with
kids in the past as both a tutor and volunteer instructor and loves
helping children succeed. She has been swimming since she was seven
years old, and specializes in the breaststroke, individual medley,
and distance freestyle events. In the summer of 2015, she set a new
team record in the 50 meter breaststroke and was part of an NVSL
record-breaking relay team. She has also competed at a high level
with her winter swim team and continues to work hard in the sport.
Hanna is thrilled to work with all of the swimmers here at
Highlands and is very excited to help them reach their goals both
in and out of the pool!
Jackson Baldrate
Assistant Coach
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Jackson is 16 years old and is a rising junior at Gonzaga High
School in Washington, D.C. He is beginning his ninth year swimming
at Highlands. This will be his second year coaching. Along with
swimming during the summer, he has done Machine and York winter
swim in the past. He has experience teaching children with special
needs how to swim while coaching at "Adaptive Aquatics." He
specializes in Breaststroke and Freestyle, but he can teach all
four of the strokes. He can teach kids of all ages and abilities,
but he especially loves teaching beginner
swimmers.
Jackson Wright
Assistant Coach
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Jackson is a rising junior at Yorktown High School. Last year
Jackson worked as a coach in training and really enjoyed it. His
favorite part was seeing the swimmers improve every week. He swims
for NCAP Marymount year round, and for the Yorktown swim team. He
has swum for Highlands since he was eight years old. His favorite
strokes are freestyle and backstroke.
MK Morris Larkin
Assistant Coach
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MK is a rising senior at Yorktown High School. She began swimming
competitively at four years old. MK’s favorite stroke is
backstroke. She swims for Machine Aquatics and Yorktown High
School. She enjoys working with kids. MK loves being a Whomping
Turtle.
Bridget Morris Larkin
Assistant Coach
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Bridget swims for machine aquatics and is a rising junior at
Yorktown high school where she is a member of the swim team. She
specializes in breaststroke. She has grown up around the pool, both
of her parents have been involved with coaching. She and her
siblings are all still active in the sport. Bridget has experienced
teaching swim lessons and works as a
lifeguard.
Yuto Matsuki
Assistant Coach
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Yuto is a coach-in-training, and has been swimming competitively
since he was eight years old. He is beginning his fourth year
swimming at Highlands. Year around, Yuto swims for the FISH swim
team, and has qualified for the Junior Olympics and ISCA East Elite
Showcase Classic multiple times throughout his swimming career. He
also swims for his high school team during the winter season. His
favourite strokes at A-meets and swim events are backstroke and
butterfly, however he loves swimming every stroke, even recently
starting to specialize in long distance freestyle. He is excited
and looking forward to an amazing Highlands
season!
Sydney Smith
Assistant Coach
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Ingrid Shumway
Coach In Training
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Ingrid is a Freshman at Mclean High School who enjoys hiking,
reading, art, and swimming. She first joined the Mclean Swim and
Tennis 'Future Marlins' when she was six, and has been swimming
every summer since. She loved swimming so much she started
practicing all year with private clubs. She babysits, tutors math,
and connects with kids well. She has a great passion for the sport
and is enthusiastic to teach her skills to new
swimmers.
Grace Walters
Coach In Training
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Grace is a rising sophomore and has been swimming competitively for
eight years. She swims year-round for Machine Aquatics as well as
for Highlands over the summer. Over the past year, Grace has swam
for The Madeira School’s Varsity Swim Team. Grace’s
best strokes are butterfly and backstroke. Outside of swimming,
Grace loves to read, write, listen to music, play the violin and
piano, and participate in musical theater. Swimming has always been
an exponentially large part of Grace’s life and she hopes to
encourage others to pursue swimming not only for competitive
purposes, but for a lifelong love of an ageless
sport.
Jacob Daniels
Coach In Training
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Jacob started swimming for Highlands at age five and has been
competing since, focusing on freestyle and breastroke. In addition
to Highlands, he also swims with the McLean High School swim team.
Jacob has been a camp counselor in the past and enjoys working with
kids.
Maeve Obrist
Coach In Training
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Maeve joined the Highlands swim team at age 5. She jumped right in
and immediately loved being apart of the Highlands family.
Highlands kick started her love for the sport of swimming and led
her to compete year round for Clark swim club and ACC swim club for
the next 7 years. During Maeve's past 9 seasons at Highlands she
has competed in many divisional and all star meets. She has also
been apart of many of Highlands' successful relay teams. Maeve is
rising sophomore at Georgetown Visitation and enjoys playing many
other sports, especially lacrosse. She also participates in many
service clubs and enjoys teaching young kids to read through
Arlington Housing Corporation's Reading Buddies program. Her goal
for the 2021 season is to hopefully instill a love for swimming and
to carry on the fun traditions that Highlands has to
offer.
Sean Nammo
Coach In Training
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Sean is a rising sophomore at Yorktown High School. Sean cannot
remember if he was six or seven when he started swimming for
Highlands, but he feels as if he's always been a part of the team
because three of his four older siblings swam for Highlands, two of
them already Whomping Turtles when Sean was born. Sean swan for
Williamsburg Middle School in sixth and seventh grades and had
started with the team in eighth grade before COVID-19 shut down
school. With COVID still around in his freshman year at Yorktown,
Sean chose not to participate in the YHS swim team. He looks
forward to swimming at YHS in future years. When he's not swimming,
Sean enjoys playing the drums and running.
