Ashley Whitney

Ashley was an National Junior Team qualifier as an age group swimmer with NAC. She still holds the Southeastern record in the 200 freestyle for 13-14 girls. Ashley swam for the Bolles School, where she qualified for a spot on the US National Team from 1995-1998. She competed in a variety of national and international competitions and won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics in the 800 freestyle relay. Ashley was a member of the 1999 NCAA Championship team swimming for the University of Georgia and completed her collegiate swimming career at the University of California-Berkeley.

A three time Olympic Trials qualifier, Ashley now focuses much of her efforts on training, racing, and coaching for open water swimming. She earned a spot on the 2009 US National Open Water team and has won several open water races around the country. Ashley has coached hundreds of adult swimmers to successful triathlon and open water finishes from sprint to mult-ironman distances. Ashley especially enjoys helping adult swimmers achieve their goals whether they include learning freestyle to participate in their first race or prepare a bid to qualify for World Championship multi-sport competitions. Ashley is excited to bring her swimming and coaching experience back to the team where her competitive swimming career started.

Ashley also enjoys her time as head coach of Nashville’s Seven Hills Barracudas summer league team. She and her husband met in Nashville and enjoy racing triathlons together. They have two daughters who are learning to swim with NAC’s Swim America program.

Melissa began her swimming career in Florida at the age of 4, swimming for the Heritage Aquatic Team and later for South Florida Swim Team where she trained with world-record holders Alia Atkinson and Dara Torres. In high school, she was a 2x State Champion in the 100 breastroke and was a multi-year Junior and Senior National Qualifier in breastroke and sprint freestyle. At the collegiate level, Melissa swam for Texas A&M under Steve Bultman and finished her collegiate swimming career at Florida State. She came in 2^nd at the 2012 ACC Championships with a 1:00.91 100 breastroke, qualifying for the All-ACC Team, the ACC Academic Honor Roll and the ACC All-Academic Team.

After a few years away from the pool to focus on neuroscience research and applying to graduate school, Melissa has now re-joined the sport of swimming as a Master’s swimmer. She competed at the 2015 Master’s National Championships where she won the 50 freestyle, 50 breastroke, and 100 breastroke in the 18-24 age group. Melissa especially enjoys helping other swimmers optimize their swimming technique to maximize their personal strengths, and is excited to bring her swimming and coaching experience to the Nashville Aquatic Club.

Melissa is currently pursuing her PhD in Neuroscience at Vanderbilt University, where she studies the molecular process of neurodegeneration in glaucoma. She also enjoys playing guitar and riding her horse, Athena.