Woodson Y Northern Swimmers

Coaches and Directors

Abby Tesch

Senior Director of Aquatics and Competitive Sports

The swim team is run under the leadership of Abby Tesch. Abby’s background includes 14 years of competitive swimming. She was a standout at Wausau West High School and a scholarship athlete for the Badgers at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Abby has 15 years of experience as a Head Coach.

In 2007 and 2009, Abby was voted Wisconsin Senior Coach of the Year. She was recognized by the United Way of Central Wisconsin as a Champion of Youth for developing a Sense of Purpose in young children. Abby was honored to be recognized by the Wausau Daily Herald as one of Wausau Top 20 Under 40 in 2014. She is a lifelong Wausau area resident who is committed to making the Woodson Y swimming one of the finest programs for developing young people.

Mike McQueen

Head Coach

Email: [email protected]

I am originally from the state of Iowa where I lived for 13 years. My family then moved to the Twin Cities, where I was a three sport athlete. Following graduation, I went on to college at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, graduating with a Post Secondary Education degree, majoring in English and minoring in History.

I have been a competitive triathlete and duathlete for over 20 years, completing distances from Sprint to Ironman. Currently I have moved on to Endurance Mountain Bike Racing and competing at distances up to 100 miles.

I have been coaching with WYNS for 6 years and have transitioned from being an assistant to Abby into the lead role as Head Competitive Swim Coach, while primarily coaching the senior level groups. I bring knowledge from various aspects of my life as I have a private endurance coaching business, dryland expertise, and have accumulated vast amounts of knowledges under the tutelage of numerous high level swim coaches within the WYNS program.

I have 2 children, Scout and Willem. Both are currently members of the WYNS Program.

Melissa Springer

Head Age Group Coach

Email: [email protected]

AG Head Coach

Coach Springer grew up in Oregon, where her love of the water developed. By the age of 8, she was begging her parents to let her swim for the local team. Little did they know, that this was the beginning of a lifelong passion - competitive swimming.

Springer swam with the Tualatin Hills Swim Club as an age grouper and the Multnomah Athletic Club as a senior swimmer. She continued swimming thru her freshman year in college at Brigham Young University.

She has coached various teams over the last 16 years, including middle school, high school, country club and usa club teams. As Springer has moved over the years, she has been given the opportunity to coach and swim in the following states - Oregon, Utah, Texas, Michigan and now Wisconsin. Her experiences in these different swimming environments and communities brings a wealth of knowledge to the WYNS program.