Competitor Coach of the Month: Ken O’Reilly

Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.

Scarlet Aquatics has quietly been churning out some elite age group swimmers of late, and that was on full display earlier this month at the Martha McKee Charlotte Open at SwimMAC’s Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center.

Ken O’Reilly, the longtime head coach at the Scarlet site based out of New Jersey, led several of his athletes to impressive swims at the competition, including 14-year-old Chloe Kim dropping nearly five seconds in the 800 freestyle (8:47.86) to set a new New Jersey LSC Record for 13-14 girls. Additionally, Kim moves into 60th all-time in the age group.

Another Scarlet swimmer that stood out was 16-year-old Eric Lee, who established new best times in the 200 IM (2:05.85) and 400 IM (4:27.43) to rank 84th and 85 all-time, respectively, in the boys’ 15-16 age group.

O’Reilly, who has been the head coach and CEO at Scarlet for over 20 years, also coached Kim, Kate Hurst and Steven Bendoraitis to the U.S. International Team Trials in late April, all qualifying in the 1500 freestyle.

Along with head age group coach Erin Miller, O’Reilly’s athletes are beginning to make more and more of an impact in the sport on the state and national stage.

And while he isnt’ coached by O’Reilly, Brandon Anand, a Scarlet swimmer based out of the Rutgers site and coached by Tom Speedling, also had an impressive showing in Charlotte, which you can read more on here.

About Competitor Swim

Since 1960, Competitor Swim® has been the leader in the production of racing lanes and other swim products for competitions around the world. Competitor lane lines have been used in countless NCAA Championships, as well as 10 of the past 13 Olympic Games. Molded and assembled using U.S. – made components, Competitor lane lines are durable, easy to set up and are sold through distributors and dealers worldwide.

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