Highlands Swim Team : 2019 Coaching Staff

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2019 Coaching Staff

We are here to support your needs. If your questions are related to workouts, meets, private lessons, and other swimming related needs, please contact one of the Coaches. For all questions related to administrative, such as dues, safety, or policy issues, please contact one of our Team Reps.

Coaching Staff

Kelly Rose McCullough

Head Coach

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 AG2, AG5, High School Prep program as well as assistant for the AG1 and Senior Prep programs. You can also find her helping out with the AG3 group on Saturday mornings. This will be Coach Kelly Rose's third season with the Whomping Turtles and she cannot wait for another great summer!

Jessica Cruzado

Assistant Head Coach

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 9th year coaching. She has coached kids ages 3 to 17 in private lessons, group lessons and swim team practice environments of various abilities. Her experience has primarily been coaching with Highlands but in high school, she also coached a Developmental Swim Group with her winter swim team. Jessica is a senior at the College of William and Mary and is a Chemistry and Computer Science double major. In 2017, Jessica became a nationally certified American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Summer League Coach.

Kelsey Isman

Head Mini Whomper Coach

Coach Kelsey is a rising freshman at Wesleyan University where she will be a member of the swim team. She just graduated from Yorktown High School. She was a member of the swim team at Yorktown and also swims for Clark Swim Club. She has been a member of the Highlands team since she was seven. In addition to coaching the Mini Whompers, she has coached for Norman Swimming, Marymount Developmental Swim Team, Marymount Swim School, and the Arlington Adapted Aquatics program. She looks forward to a great season!

Maggie Campion

Assistant Head Mini Whomper Coach

Maggie has been swimming for 11 years and this is her fourth year coaching at Highlands, but coached at Matt Norman for two years prior. She is a rising senior at McLean High School and plays basketball for the school. She is also the president of the Best Buddies Chapter at McLean and has coached adaptive swim classes for children and adults with special needs. Maggie has also coached a McLean Youth Volleyball team for the past two years.

Bethany Grocock

Assistant Coach

Bethany is a Junior at Virginia Tech, studying Human Development. She has been part of the Highlands Whomping Turtles Swim Team since she was 5 years old. She fell in love with the sport, which lead her to start year round swimming five days a week for Sea Devil Swim team. She also swam on the McLean High School Varsity team for four years, making Districts and Regionals. This will be her 6th year coaching for the Whomping Turtles and she also coach year- round at Virginia Tech. She is a qualified lifeguard and has received her Water- Safety instructor license from the American Red Cross. In 2017, Bethany became a nationally certified American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Summer League Coach.

Alexandria Vaillant

Technical Coach

Coach Alex is excited to be returning for her third 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.

Diego Cruzado

Assistant Coach

Diego has been swimming for Highlands since age 5. He graduated from The Potomac School this spring and will be attending the College of William and Mary this fall as a member of the Varsity swim team. He is a year-round swimmer for Machine Aquatics and trains in the National Prep Group and competes on the highly competitive national level. This will be Diego's fifth summer coaching for Highlands. Diego is fluent in Spanish (native speaker) and specializes in freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly as well as starts and turns.

Amanda Moore

Assistant Coach

Amanda has been a member of the Whomping Turtles swim team since she was 5 years old. Amanda enjoys swimming and being in the water, but what she likes most is working with kids. Amanda has been a swim coach with Norman Swimming for the past five years where she has taught kids between the ages of 3-7 the fundamentals of swimming. This year, as a Junior at McLean High School, she was a member of the Best Buddies Organization, which has enhanced important skills such as patience and encouragement which she applies to coaching.Outside of swimming, Amanda enjoys playing softball and is a pitcher on the McLean High School varsity team and a competitive travel team.

Ben Charles

Assistant Coach

Ben Charles has been a member of the Highlands Whomping Turtles for 11 years, and has been coaching for three years. He swims for Machine Aquatics year round and has competed in many national and international swim meets. He loves the sport of swimming and works hard to improve every day. He specializes in Butterfly and Freestyle, but he also teaches Breaststroke and Backstroke. He wants to help swimmers learn the proper techniques and various other important pieces of each stroke that he has learned through the many different swim camps he has attended around the country. He loves working with swimmers and helping them to improve as much as they can in swimming, and have fun while doing it too.

Sarah Murphy

Assistant Coach

Sarah is a rising Freshman in college and graduated from Yorktown High School this year. She has been on the Highlands swim team since she was 6! This will be Sarah's 5th year coaching and she looks forward to seeing all the returning Whomping Turtles along with some new turtle faces! Sarah has done club swimming for 11 years and loves coaching all strokes, especially freestyle and backstroke. She works with kids of all ages and is thrilled to be back coaching at Highlands this year!

Stephane de Cazotte

Assistant Coach

Stephane has been swimming at Highlands since the age of 6, and has looked forward to participating ever since. Stephane has been coaching for Norman Swimming for the past 5 years and this will be his third year coaching with Highlands. This year will unfortunately be Stephane's last year on the swim team as he prepares to move on to his first year studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Allison Martin

Assistant Coach

Allison has been a Whomping Turtle since she was seven years old. She has also been swimming year-round with The Fish since she was eight, and is a member of their National team. She is a rising Junior at Georgetown Visitation, and is a Scholastic All-American. Her favorite strokes are butterfly, freestyle, and IM. She loves working with kids of all ages. Allison is very excited for her second year coaching at Highlands.

Christopher Stewart

Assistant Coach

Chris Stewart has been a Whomping Turtle since 2010 and served as a coach in training and group lesson instructor in 2018. He has also been coaching in the Highlands Winter Program for the past year. Chris has just finished his sophomore year at Gonzaga College High School, and swam for Clark Swim Club for many seasons. He enjoys teaching all levels, but he specializes in beginners and helping kids with a fear of the water with getting comfortable swimming. He is a lifelong resident of Arlington and he is very excited to be a full coach this year.

Greer Schuman

Assistant Coach

Greer Schuman is a rising junior at Bishop O'Connell High School. 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 a part of the Whomping Turtles since 2008. Last year she was a coach-in-training and loved every part of it. Over the winter, Greer coaches for Matt Norman Swim. She is really excited for the 2019 swim season! Go Whomping Turtles!

Meredith Bacon

Assistant Coach

Meredith is a rising senior at Bishop O'Connell High School and this will be her second year coaching and swimming for Highlands. She is a member of her O'Connell Swim Team and also swims at Clark Swim Club. She enjoys working with kids of all ages and levels. Besides coaching at Highlands, she also coaches for Norman Swimming, Arlington Adapted Aquatics, and Future Saints at Marymount. She can't wait for another enthusiastic season with the Whomping Turtles!

Adair Sand

Coach in Training

This is Adair's first year at Highlands, switching from the Langley Wildthings where she junior coached and swam for 6 years. Adair has been swimming year round since the age of 6 and currently swims year round for Bolles School Sharks in Jacksonville Florida, but previously swam for Machine Aquatics. Adair is a Junior National finalist and National Championship qualifier, and is committed to swim in college at Arizona State in 2020. Adair loves any opportunity to work with kids, and has experience through past coaching experience, and volunteer work with kids on her swim teams. Adair looks forward to a great season at Highlands, working with this great group of kids!

Adam J Kunz

Coach in Training

This summer is Adam’s 9th season swimming with the Highlands Swim Team. A rising junior at McLean High School, 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. In 2018, Adam served as the Youth Director for the Education Foundation’s sport and academic summer camp for over 80 underprivileged boys and girls. At McLean High, Adam is captain of the JV Soccer Team and a member of the Science Olympiad Team. He also enjoys playing soccer with the Arlington Soccer Association and basketball with Mclean Youth Basketball.

Alissa Keegan

Coach in Training

Alissa is a rising senior at Bishop O’Connell High School. She is a varsity swimmer and cross country runner for O’Connell’s teams. She has been swimming competitively since age 5 and joined NCAP’s year-round program at age 7. Alissa also works as an Expanded Services peer mentor and tutor at O’Connell and is co-President of the Latin Honors Society and club. In addition, she has volunteered with the library’s youth programs working with small children and encouraging them to love reading. Alissa has been a member of the Highlands swim team since age 11, and her favorite strokes are Free and Fly, although she also likes the IM and distance events in general. Alissa’s loves working with younger children, and she is really looking forward to working with your children to increase their love of swimming this year as a Highlands coach!

Daniel Isman

Coach in Training

Daniel has been swimming for Highlands since he was six years old. He is a rising sophomore at Yorktown High School. He swims for the Yorktown team and for Clark Swim Club. He also has coached for Norman Swimming and Arlington Adapted Aquatics. He is excited for his first year of coaching for Highlands!

Forrest Spencer

Coach in Training

Forrest is a rising Junior at McLean High School and has been on the Highlands Swim Team since the 2015 swim season. He loves the sport of swimming and has been swimming since the fifth grade. He has been involved in a number of other sports, including wrestling, crew and weightlifting.

Marcus Brown

Coach in Training

Marcus is a rising junior at Flint Hill School. He swims for his high school team as well as local club, Machine Aquatics. Marcus also participates in multiple extracurricular activities. He does a social entrepreneurship program called LearnServe and even traveled to South Africa through this program last summer. Marcus completed the CIT program with Fairfax County Park Service last summer and worked with school age youth between 6 to 12 years old. Marcus will be a great mentor to the younger swimmers and be available to give lessons in freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke. He is very eager to work with the other coaches and share his knowledge and experience in stroke refinement with the younger Whomping Turtles!

Megan Craven

Coach in Training

Megan is new to Highlands this year. She is a rising Junior at the National Cathedral School located DC. She is a year round swimmer at Machine Aquatics and has been swimming competitively since age 5. Before Highlands, Megan swam for The Langley Club where she was a Junior Coach and absolutely loved it. Megan has taught children of all ages and specializes in breast stroke and freestyle. She is also lifeguard and CPR certified from American Red Cross. She is thrilled to become apart of this experience and is looking forward to getting to know everyone.

Sky Sunderhauf

Coach in Training

Skye is a rising junior at McLean High School and has been a Whomping Turtle since 6 years old. She swims year-round with The Fish and she is also on McLean High School Swim Team. Skye has been a coach at Norman Swimming for two years and this will be her first year coaching at Highlands. She loves all the strokes, but breaststroke and butterfly are her favorites. She is very excited for her first summer as a Highlands coach and to help swimmers improve their swimming abilities!

Team Reps

Kelli O'Shaughnessy

Team Rep

Meggie Scogna

Team Rep