Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
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Coach Ryan became the Head Coach of the Lynchburg YMCA in August
of 2015. With 15 years of coaching experience at a variety of
club and collegiate positions, Ryan is a veteran coach known for
his challenging yet interesting approach to training.
Prior to coming to LY, Ryan was the Head Coach of the Parkland
Aquatic Club in Allentown, PA. There, he mentored many
Olympic Trials, National, and Jr National qualifiers and guided
dozens of swimmers who went on to swim collegiately.
At the North Carolina Aquatic Club in Chapel Hill, NC, Ryan
guided his swimmers to many state championships including the
team's first LSC title in 2008. NCAC produced many Jr
National qualifiers, an Olympic Trials qualifier, Scholastic
All-Americans, and during Ryan's tenure and was repeatedly awarded
the Silver Medal for Club Excellence. Ryan also served as an
assistant coach at the University of North Carolina, helping the
team to multiple ACC team runner-up finishes and NCAA
All-American honors.
Ryan began his career at the University of Florida, where he was
mentored by 2012 Olympic Head Coach Gregg Troy and the Gator
Staff. He coached with the Gator Swim Club while working
toward his degree in Exercise Physiology and training for open
water swims. While at Florida, Ryan had the good fortune to
work with many Olympians in the Gator program and working at the
Florida Swim Camp each summer. Staying at UF after completing
his bachelor's degree, Ryan earned his Master's degree in
Biomechanics in 2007.
In his spare time, Ryan enjoys running and reading. He and
his wife Abby (LY Assistant Director of Competitive Aquatics) have
three children and live in Lynchburg.
Blake Proffitt
Varsity Group Lead Coach
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Blake Proffitt began swimming competitively for the Lynchburg YMCA when he was nine years old. He was finishing in the top eight at Age Group Champs by the time he was 10 and went on to be a 4-time YMCA national qualifier and 2-time member of the Eastern Zone team. He competed in the summers for Oakwood Country Club and at the high school level for EC Glass, finishing as a state finalist six times and was State runner up his senior year in the 100 fly and 100 back. In his free time he enjoyed running track and has been an assistant swim coach at Oakwood for 3 years. He attended College of Charleston and is now bringing his on-deck enthusiasm and energy back to LY.
Mia Croom
Silver and Bronze Lead Coach
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Mia Croom grew up swimming in Northern Virginia, and moved to Lynchburg to attend Liberty University. She is now a graduate student studying elementary education and has served in many capacities in aquatics. Most recently, she was an assistant coach at Oakwood Country Club and an assistant coach at Jefferson Forest High School. She is very skilled at relating to young children and will lead the Bronze and Silver groups this season with help from Coach Anna.
Heath Grishaw
Gold Group Lead Coach
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Heath Grishaw swam competitively for 12 years. He first started at the age of 6 with the Forest Area Swim Team. In his sophomore year of high school LCA started a swim team, and he swam for them until he graduated in 2014. Heath is in his junior year studying Kinesiology at Liberty University. He has now coached for the Forest Area Swim Team for 2 years as well as with the LCA High School Swim team. He is known as a vocal encourager and is ready to bring his energy and experience to help impact the LY swim team.
Anna Meinke
Silver and Bronze Group
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Anna Meinke swam her entire career with LY, and was a standout across a variety of strokes. She was a YMCA National Qualifier and State Championship finalist at LCA. Now studying Elementary Education at Liberty, she returns to our team as a coach to share her experience and knowledge with our young swimmers. She will be assisting Coach Mia in working with the Bronze and Silver Groups this fall.
Patrick Frankfort
Assistant Coach, Varsity Group
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Patrick Frankfort grew up in Lynchburg swimming for the Oakwood
Gators and LY from ages 7 through 18, and for four years with the
E.C. Glass Hilltoppers. He went on to swim for four more
years with the Washington and Lee University swim team before
graduating and moving west to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He spent
3 years there as the head coach of the Jackson Hole Stingrays club
team, where he was named Wyoming Swimming Coach of the Year in
2007-08 and worked with several swimmers who won high school state
championships and went on to swim in college. Since moving
back to Lynchburg, he has worked as a math teacher and head coach
of the swim team at E.C. Glass for the last 5 years, and coached
with Peakland and Boonsboro in the LAL. Patrick is excited to
bring his knowledge and experience back to LY.
Ranndi Grubbs
Assistant Coach, Gold Group
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Ranndi Grubbs began her swimming career as a club swimmer in
Columbus, Ohio. She moved to Lynchburg in 2012 when she started
attending Liberty University. At Liberty, Ranndi was a member of
their D1 swimming and diving program. During her time on the team,
Ranndi participated at the 2014 Phillips 66 National Championships.
She also helped lead the team to win the 2014 CCSA Conference
Championship. Ranndi graduated from Liberty University in 2016 with
a degree in Exercise Science. In January, she will attend Campbell
University to pursue a degree in Physical Therapy.
In the past, Ranndi has volunteer coached for Lynchburg
Y’s national group and assistant coached at Occoquan
Swimming. She is excited to be back on the pool deck, sharing her
passion and experience for the sport of swimming.
Hannah Wakeley
Assistant Coach, Bronze Group
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Hannah Wakeley has been around the pool deck since she was four
years old and started swimming year-round at the age of eight. She
comes from a family of eight, with five siblings who all swam
competitively. Hannah grew up in southern New Jersey and swam for
Atlantic City Aquatic Club under her head coach and father David
Wakeley. As a teen, she was a member of Middle Atlantic All-Star
Winter Zone team and ranked first in the Mid-Atlantic region in the
200 butterfly during the 2007 swim season. During her high school
years, she assisted in coaching the bronze and silver level groups
as well as teaching swim lessons during the summer. In her senior
year of high school, she earned the New Jersey state high point
award for the 15 and over girls.
During her collegiate swim career, Hannah held team records in
the 1650 and 1000 freestyle and was a contributing member of
Liberty University’s first championship winning team in 2014.
At the 2015 CCSA Championship meet, Hannah’s podium finishes
include scoring a 2nd place finish in the 200 butterfly
and 3rd in the 1650 freestyle. During summer training,
Hannah competed with Liberty Aquatics in the 2014 Arena Charlotte
Grand Prix meet in the 200 and 100 butterfly, and 400 freestyle
events. Hannah graduated in May of 2016 with a bachelor of science
degree in Health Promotion.
Hannah’s coaching experience extends into the collegiate
realm as she held the assistant head coach position at Alderson
Broaddus (AB) University in Philippi, WV for the men’s and
women’s swim team. During her time at AB, Hannah focused on
technique development, lead weight and dryland workouts, assisted
in meet management, coordinated team travel, and engaged in
recruiting for the team. Hannah helped develop the young program
and her swimmers gained significant time drops throughout the
season.
After spending a summer working with Brigantine Aquatics,
assisting with all group levels within the team, Hannah has
returned to Lynchburg to pursue a master’s degree in Public
Health at Liberty. She now works as the team manager for the
University’s swimming and diving team in addition to her
responsibilities at LY. Hannah has always had a passion for the
sport and is excited to join the LY family to help teach and
inspire young athletes to reach their full potential both in and
out of the pool.
Abigail Woodruff
Asst. Director of Competitive Aquatics
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Coach Abby returned to LY in August 2015. As Abby Clark,
she got her first taste of swimming at age 7 at Falling River
Country Club and joined the YMCA swim team that fall. Abby was an
excellent LY and E.C. Glass swimmer and still holds a couple of
records around the area. She continued her career at Davidson
College where she was part of the school record-setting 800 free
relay and a conference meet finalist on multiple occasions.
Abby started her coaching career in 1995 at the Peakland
Pool teaching swimming lessons and eventually becoming Head Coach.
She later coached with the famed Mecklenburg Aquatic Club (MAC)
during the summer and earned a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from
Davidson College in 2001.
Moving to the University of Florida in 2004, she
worked as the manager for the UF swim team, taught swim lessons,
and became the Head Age Group Coach, Head Masters Coach, and
Business Manager of Gator Swim Club. She earned her Master's degree
in Sport Management from UF in 2006.
In 2007 Abby and Coach Ryan moved to the North
Carolina Aquatic Club in Chapel Hill, NC. Abby served as the Head
Age Group Coach and business manager of the club until the summer
of 2009 when she made the decision to stay at home with her first
child.
Abby spent the previou six years before coming to LY
as a full-time mom to three children and is thrilled to be getting
back into the “swim of things.". She is currently Assistant
Director of Competitive Aquatics and plans to be back on the pool
deck more and more over the next few years. Abby firmly believes
that there is no greater sport than swimming, and she loves sharing
her passion for the sport with young swimmers! Most of her free
time is spent shuttling her kids around to various activities, but
she still enjoys swimming, running, reading, movies, and having new
adventures with her family.
Priscilla Bettis
Substitute Coach
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Priscilla Bettis has recently retired from everyday coaching and now serves as a substitute coach. Priscilla brings over 30 years of coaching experience to the team. She grew up in Alaska but thawed out after several years of living in the South. Priscilla is a former age group, college, and Masters swimmer. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Oklahoma and is able to apply her understanding of wave mechanics and fluid dynamics when teaching stroke technique. Priscilla has coached swimmers of all ages and abilities including age group, junior high school, Special Olympics, summer league, and Masters. She enjoys motivating young athletes and promoting the great sport of swimming. Priscilla holds a level 4 ASCA certification.
