Andrew Barranco, Head Coach

Andrew is the Head Coach and founder of Merritt Athletic Swimming as well as the Regional Aquatics Director for Merritt Athletic Clubs. He oversees Merritt Athletic Swimming, swim team. In addition he oversees Merritt’s six aquatic facilities and aquatic staff of over 100 employees. He graduated from Frostburg State University with a B.S degree in Recreation Management. He has coached internationally for the United States Olympic Committee in England, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Japan, China, Greece, and the Netherlands. Before starting MAS in 2004, he was the Head Coach of Pine Ridge Swim Team in 2004 and 2005, an Assistant Coach for Dundalk Eastfield Swim Club for three years, as well as an Assistant Coach for Hillcrest Swim Club. He has been the coach of Jessica Long (2004,2008 Paralympian), winner of the 77th Annual Sullivan Award-Top Amateur Athlete in the Country,2006 Paralympian of the Year and ESPY Award winner.

Recent coaching highlights include:

• Head Coach of the USA Paralympic Swim Team at the 2010 Greek Open Championships
• Named Team Leader of the 2011 Para Pan-Pac Swim Team
• Selected Head Coach of the 2011 Parapan American Games, Paralympic Swim Team
• Awarded 2010 Paralympic Coach   of the year by the United States Olympic Committee 

Coach Mike Kremer joined the Merritt Athletic swim team in 2013 as a coach at the Eldersburg location.  Mike began coaching in 1984 while attending graduate school.  His swimming experience began at age 5 and continued through college, swimming 4 years at Dartmouth College, where he was co-captain his senior year.  While at Dartmouth, he set several school records and qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships.  Coach Mike was an assistant coach at RMSC (Rockville, MD) and MAC (Frederick, MD) before becoming head coach at Carroll County YMCA (CCY; Westminster, MD) in 1994.  During his 12 years as coach Mike developed and grew the CCY team from 30-40 swimmers to 145 swimmers with numerous YMCA National Qualifiers.  In 2006 a new pool was built in Hampstead, MD and Mike formed the Carroll Aquatics Tiger Sharks (CATS) swim team.  In 7 years at CATS, many swimmers qualified for State, Sectional, and Junior National (NCSA) swim meets.  Since joining the Merritt coaching staff in 2013 his swimmers have continued to qualify for meets at levels including NCSA Futures, Junior Nationals and being named to the USA Swimming High School Scholastic All America Team.

Coach Mike received his bachelor’s and master’s in engineering from Dartmouth College before working for 9 years with IBM.  In 1993, Mike left IBM to open a State Farm Insurance Agency in Westminster where he continues to provide life planning, insurance, and financial services for clients.

This is Maureen's 12th year as a coach in the Maryland LSC, serving as both assistant coach and head coach at various clubs.  With a Master's degree in Sports Science and numerous instructor trainer level Red Cross certifications, Maureen has been working in aquatics for almost 20 years.  Maureen is currently the Aquatic Manager at the Canton Merritt, and spends her spare time running, reading, and traveling to visit her six children.
 

Tana King Assistant Coach, Towson

My name is Tana King and I am new to the Merritt Athletic Swimming team. I coach the Marlin groups. I swam at Towson University my freshman and sophomore years where I was named an Academic All American. Over this past summer I coached for the Springdale Stars, as well as bring an additional nine years of coaching experience at various assistant coach positions in Virginia, where I grew up. I graduated from Towson in 2012 with a degree in Secondary Education-English. I teach 8th grade Language Arts at Stemmers Run Middle School in Essex.

 Amber Farb has been coaching and teaching for Merritt Clubs for the past four years. She currently lives in carroll county working at the Eldersburg location.  I started learning the art of teaching and coaching when I was completing my community service hours for high school at the Y of Central Maryland and for Carroll Aquatics, which is were I swam in High School. Amber continued swimming through college on the Hood College club team and still enjoys swimming by competing in triathlons. I'm currently finish my masters at Hood College in Business. Amber spends her free time  outside with my German Shepard pup and family. One quality I strive for is creating a safe and positive environment for personal development through swimming. 

Towson Assistant Coach
WIll started is coaching career in 2013.  He started swimming at the age of seven, for the Chambersburg Chargers at the YMCA in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.  As a young swimmer, Will showed lots of potential as a sprinter, excelling in the 50 and 100 freestyles, as well as the 100 butterfly and 200 IM.(At ages 16 and 17, he competed in the YMCA National Championships in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  He was then recruited by the Shippensburg University swim coach.  After much deliberation, he decided to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD, instead.  Throughout his college years, Will was never far from the pool, working as a lifeguard during the summers and continuing to swim as part of his fitness routine.(Will is a successful fine art artist.  His work is exhibited in galleries in Baltimore, Annapolis and the Maryland Eastern Shore, as well as private collections throughout the country.  (He looks forward to gaining valuable experience as a coach, and helping young swimmers reach their potential while having fun doing it.
 

 Hilary Stanmyer came to us from  New Paltz, NY. She and attended The College of Saint Rose in Albany, Ny.Swimming competitively all through high school and college. The College of Saint Rose is Division II school where Hilary swam Breaststroke, Butterfly and the IM. She high school math teacher  at North Harford High School where I also coach swim team.