To see all of our 2022 Swammy Awards, click here.
Ron Aitken solidified the Sandpipers of Nevada’s status as a powerhouse program on par with the best college teams in the country this year.
In fact, if the Sandpiper girls competed at the 2022 NCAA Championships last season, they would have likely beaten all but six women’s squads at the meet. The best times of 17-year-old Bella Sims (60 points), 16-year-old Katie Grimes (54 points), and 15-year-old Claire Weinstein (35 points) would have been good for 189 points along with some help from their theoretical 4×200 freestyle relay team that would have placed 2nd at NCAAs in 6:52.66.
Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Erica Sullivan moved on from Sandpipers to Texas for her collegiate career, but Aitken’s teenage training group didn’t miss a beat in 2022. He still managed to land three Sandpipers on the U.S. International Team for the World Championships in Budapest, where Grimes, Sims, and Weinstein each earned medals this summer. Grimes took silver in the women’s 1500 free and 400 IM, while Sims and Weinstein both won gold in the women’s 4×200 free relay en route to a new Championship record.
Aitken’s Las Vegas-based crew stayed red-hot throughout a busy race schedule featuring the World Cup series, Winter Juniors, and Short Course Worlds. In November, Grimes lowered the world junior record in the SCM 1500 free at the Indianapolis leg of the World Cup. Later that day at the same meet, Sims demolished two world junior records in the span of just 12 minutes in the 200 free and 100 back. Ilya Kharun, a 17-year-old Sandpiper who represents Canada internationally, won a pair of Short Course Worlds medals earlier this month while breaking two world junior records in the 50 fly and 100 fly along the way.
“There is a belief system here, and it’s contagious,” Aitken told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the Sandpipers’ dominant performance at Winter Juniors. “I love watching our beginners to veterans thrive in this environment. It’s always been our goal to give our athletes the best opportunities. Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028 look promising for Sandpiper athletes.”
Honorable Mentions
- Chris Plumb, Carmel Swim Club – Carmel Swim Club set the bar high last year by winning its first winter junior national championship, producing its first Olympic swimmers (Drew Kibler and Jake Mitchell) and becoming the first public high school to sweep boys and girls national titles, extending its U.S. record to 35 girls state titles in a row. Somehow, Chris Plumb’s crew lived up to that standard again this year. Carmel won combined scoring at Summer Juniors for the first time ever before sending three swimmers (Alex Shackell, Aaron Shackell, and Berit Berglund) to Junior Pan Pacs later that month. The Shackell siblings combined for five gold medals at their first international meet in Hawaii, with Aaron setting a meet record in the boys’ 200 fly (1:55.81) and Alex winning the girls’ 100 fly (58.58). Carmel ended 2022 with a bang by defending its winter junior national crown earlier this month.
- Gary Taylor, Cavalier Aquatics – Since taking over Cavalier Aquatics last September, Gary Taylor has taken the club to new heights. His tenure got started off on the right foot when 14-year-old phenom Thomas Heilman reset 13 national age group (NAG) records in just 11 days across the three different meets (U.S. Open, YOTA Arena Capital Classic, and then last year’s Winter Juniors). Then he won Coach of the Meet honors at the YMCA Short Course Championships in April, where Cavalier Aquatics claimed the combined title. The highlight of the year, however, had to be at this year’s Winter Juniors, where Heilman threw down one of the most impressive NAG records in recent history. At just 15 years old, the butterfly specialist fired off a 44.67 in the 100 fly that was faster than both the 15-16 and 17-18 NAG records. Cavalier placed 12th in USA Swimming’s annual club excellence rankings, earning gold medal status for the first time ever.
- Ken O’Reilly, Scarlet Aquatics – Like Taylor, longtime Scarlet Aquatics head coach Ken O’Reilly also led his club to its first appearance on USA Swimming’s annual list of gold medal clubs. O’Reilly’s athletes started making more of an impact on the state and national stage this year, with three Scarlet swimmers (Chloe Kim, Kate Hurst, Steven Bendoraitis) qualifying for U.S. International Team Trials in the 1500 free. In September, Kim was also named to the National Junior Team in the 400 IM and 1500 free.
Previous Winners
- 2012 Club/High School Coach of the Year: Sergio Lopez, Bolles School
- 2013 Club/High School Coach of the Year: John Flanagan, Nation’s Capital Swim Club
- 2014 Swammy: Bruce Gemmell, Nation’s Capital Swim Club
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- 2019 Swammy: Ron Aitken, Sandpipers of Nevada
- 2020 Swammy: Bruce Marchionda, TAC Titans
- 2021 Swammy: Ron Aitken, Sandpipers of Nevada
So well deserved. Incredible.
Would love some insight into what they’re doing! Do they have a successful age group program? I know Weinstein moved. Were Sullivan, Sims, and Grimes home grown? They have set themselves apart as the premier distance club in the country, if not the world…how are their sprinters? (I know their studs can literally swim every event.)
During oly training camp he had his oly trio doing 70k a week and a 1500 tt on Saturday afternoon. Good yardage crew
The coach at Elmbrook Swim Club deserves a mention in there somewhere.
Ken ORielly is a beast and has been producing elite level swimmers in NJ for decades. Good to see his name on the list.
Coach of the year*
Zero women on this list.
What needs to change so that can change?
McKeever is available for a club position.
Coach successful teams
Right – but how does that process need to change so women are getting the shot TO coach with successful teams?
If you can barely get a foot in the door in the coaching world, or are primarily afforded opportunities to coach just 8&U and junior groups, then it’s harder to get recognition, since most age group phenoms are still coming out of the senior / national groups.
It looks to me like a similar challenge with club to college. A boots on the ground club coach does a decade of work to build athletes ready to explode on the college level…but who gets the credit? The college coach.
So who is fostering the love of the… Read more »
They can always start a club. It’s not an easy path, but plenty of men who can’t get the top job at an established club have gone that route rather than wait or relocate.
Batter them kids big boy
He’s the overall Head Coach of the Year. Not just club.