Head Coach

Paul Eure

Paul began coaching in 1983 as an Assistant coach to Lonny Kerman at the North Side Otters.  He has been coaching ever since at all levels of swimming: club for 32 years (21 as a head coach), high school for 35 years (32 as a head coach), college (2 years as head coach at Augustana College, Rock Island, IL), masters/triathlon 12 years.  Paul currently is the head high school coach at Dowling for both the gilrs and boys teams.  

Paul's family includes a loving and supporting wife, Mary, 6 children, two who swam four years in college (Luke at MIT and Maria at Grinnell), one who is currently swimming in college (Maggie at Florida Tech), two who swam in high school (Andy at Valley, and Molly at Dowling), and Veronica-14 who swims with Riptide and plans to start with the DCHS team this fall.  

Paul's practices are a balance of challenging the swimmers while emphasizing the fun aspects of competition and athletics.  

Paul graduated from DCHS, class of 1983, lives in West Des Moines and is a member of Sacred Heart Parrish.

 

 

Coach Ann Peterson

Coach Ann is the team administrator, summer lessons coordinator, and assistant coach.  She usually coaches the swimmers who are new to competitive swimming in the 8Under and Intro groups.   

Ann grew up swimming at Wakonda Country Club and lettered her freshman year at Dowling.  After that season she realized her passion was not in competition but in teaching others to love the water.   Since then, she has taught all ages from baby and me classes to adult learn to swim with a few group exercise classes too.  She coached for the Manhattan Marlins in Kansas during college and coached Riptide from 2016-2018 returning in 2021.

Ann is always ready to hop in and work with kids, especially her own.  In addition to swimming she has coached her kids in volleyball and basketball.  She enjoys working to develop skills in young kids and watching the lightbulb turn on.  Her coaching style is loud and cheerleader-like, inspired by a Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quote, "Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything."         

Ann wants everyone she coaches to be a swimmer for life. She still swims as often as she can, teaches lifeguard classes, and also teaches lifeguard instructor classes.  Some of the high school aged swimmers may have been lifeguard certified by Ann or might have her husband Lance as their DCHS Spanish teacher.

 

 

 

Coach Luke Halsch

Luke has been coaching and teaching swimming for 13 years. In fact, his coaching career started here at Riptide, when the club was first established.  He is currently an assistant coach for both Dowling Catholic Girls and Boys high school teams.  During his coaching career he has worked with many wonderful athletes whose skills ranged from college level swimmers to kids that swim like rocks. From 6 months old to 68 years old and everywhere in between.  Luke enjoys the sport of swimming but loves to watch the development and confidence grow even more.  Coach Luke coaches all Riptide groups during the summer and non-high school groups during the school year.

 

 

Coach Mike Foley

Mike is a Des Moines native who began swimming  years ago for  the Greater Des Moines Swim Club (pre-DMSF and CIA) then Des Moines Roosevelt High School before going to Iowa State University. He continued to help coach at GDMSC and teach swim lessons and competitive swim clinics. 

He later became involved with the Edina Swim Club in Minnesota where his daughters swam. Mike also swam in their masters swim program. 

Mike lives in Des Moines with his wife Jennifer. He has three adult children. Daughters Meghan and Molly who both swam for Dowling Catholic, and a son, John, who went to Roosevelt…all live in the Des Moines area. Mike is also excited to watch his granddaughter, Molly, swim for the Riptide!  Coach Mike typically coaches the older swimmers in the Senior Group.

 

 

 

Coach Leo Duffy

 

Leo swam for Riptide for three years in middle school. He then swam for the Dowling High School team, and rejoined Riptide in the summer his last two years. 

 

Leo’s Favorite Events: 100 Butterfly and 50 Freestyle.

 

After being a team captain his senior year and going to college, Leo was looking forward to getting back into swimming through coaching. He’s happy to be back at Dowling with Riptide to help swimmers give 100% effort and accomplish their goals.  Leo coaches all the practice groups but will focus most of his time with the Level 2 swimmers.

 

 

 

Coach Stephanie Tiefenthaler

 

Steph was a part of the Bett Swim Club from ages 5-18 and was a Varsity swimmer for Pleasant Valley High School as well as being a Captain her senior year. She was a swim teacher and lifeguard while attending the University of Iowa for Recreation Therapy.  After college she continued to teach swim lessons to adults and children and helped to coach the 8 and unders for Pleasant Valley Stingrays for a season. She loves swimming and her heart has always been a part of the swimming world.  You will find Coach Steph working with all age groups with most of her time coaching Level 1.

 

 

 

Coach Shannan Schoening

Shannan began swimming competitively at the age of 9 and trained with clubs in Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley, IA. She won four team high school state championships with the Bettendorf Bulldogs, earning All American honors. She swam for the Truman State Bulldogs for two years in college and earned bachelor degrees in biology, chemistry and nursing. Shannan now practices as a nurse anesthetist in the Des Moines metro area.  You will find Coach Shannan on deck assisting with all the groups in practice and at meets.

While typically sticking to 100 or 200 freestyle, Shannan’s greatest swimming accomplishment was completing a 5k swim race in the ocean in Miami. 

Shannan’s hobbies include running with her dog Dexter, traveling for destination half marathons, yoga, reading and gardening. She resides in Clive, IA.