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.
More than four decades into his tenure with the Pleasanton Seahawks since founding the club in December 1982, Steve Morsilli has consistently been churning out elite age group swimmers who have gone on to have success collegiately and beyond.
The club has recently been reaching new heights, led by phenom Luka Mijatovic, who made a splash on the international scene in August after dominating the club circuit in the United States.
Mijatovic has been rewriting the boys’ National Age Group Records over the last few years. He now owns nine records in the 13-14 age group, all broken since joining Morsilli’s group in 2022, and since turning 15, Mijatovic’s started his pursuit of cracking the 15-16 marks.
That kicked off at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, where Mijatovic won three gold medals, including snagging two individual titles in the boys’ 200 and 400 free, setting lifetime bests in both.
In the 400 free, Mijatovic broke Larsen Jensen‘s 15-16 NAG record in a time of 3:49.24, lowering Jensen’s mark of 3:50.68 which had been on the books for 22 years. At the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, Mijatovic narrowly missed the record in 3:50.71.
Mijatovic dropped nearly eight-tenths off his best time in the prelims of the 200 free, clocking 1:47.96 to jump to #3 all-time in the 15-16 age group. He went on to win the final in 1:48.05, and won a third gold medal after leading off the victorious U.S. boys’ 4×200 free relay in 1:48.66.
He also set best times in the 100 free (50.62), 800 free (7:56.91) and 1500 free (15:15.95) in Canberra, finishing 4th in both distance events and 11th in the 100 free. He now ranks #5 all-time in the 15-16 age group in the 800 free, #7 in the 1500 free and #39 in the 100 free.
On top of Mijatovic’s recent run of success, Morsilli has also led the likes of Tim Wu, Brooke Bennett and Rylee Hutchinson to long course breakthroughs, who all competed at the U.S. Speedo Summer Championships at the end of July and earned second swims.
Wu, 16, went 1:50.30 in the 200 free to finish 9th overall in a new PB, ranking 21st all-time in the 15-16 age group, while Bennett landed top 20 finishes in the 200 IM, 400 IM and 800 free, and Hutchinson placed 15th in the 400 IM—all in personal best times.
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What a controversial coach to pick.