Stanford Swimming has entered a partnership with what was formerly the Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics-Cardinal swim site to form a new team called Alto Swim Club, head coach Greg Meehan announced last week.
In conjunction with former PASA-Cardinal head coaches Joey Sementelli and Laura Mitchell, Alto offers instruction for 18 & unders as well as collegiate and professional swimmers. Eighteen & under swimmers are coached by Sementelli and Mitchell, who each lead the National Group and Senior program, respectively; Sementelli is a former volunteer assistant coach for the Stanford women’s team.
Courtesy of Alto Swim Club
Meehan, in his seventh season at the helm of the Stanford women’s team, will lead the collegiate and post-graduate/professional group along with Stanford men’s team head coach Ted Knapp, women’s associate head coach Tracy Slusser, and assistant men’s coach Jeff Kostoff.
“This new partnership represents a shared vision that has developed over several years and works to further pursue a longstanding tradition of excellence in the Bay Area,” Meehan said in a press release. Alto trains at the Avery Aquatic Center at Stanford University, as well as at multiple other facilities in the Palo Alto area.
Professional or post-graduate swimmers will now compete under the team name of “ALTO Swim Club” rather than “Stanford Swimming,” or can opt to compete under their home team’s name.
PASA sites have always operated independently of each other, but the new program will allow for a greater sense of team unity within the university-based location, Meehan told SwimSwam via email.
“It gives ALTO the opportunity to create its own identity in the area,” he further explained.
Teams under the PASA umbrella remain at five other locations – Alpine Hills, Foothills Tennis & Swim Club, Fremont Hills Country Club, Los Altos Golf & Country Club, and Rinconada – but Alto is now an entirely separate program.
Where’s Tony?
PASA?