Sandpipers of Nevada Coaching Staff
Coach Aitken is a United States Olympic Coach and
Level 5 ASCA (American Swimming Coaches Association) swim coach, a
level achieved by only 1-3% of the highest rated coaches in the
United States. He has been with the Sandpipers since 1994, and
leads the team as the Executive Director, Head Coach, and coach for
the Sandpiper National Team.
Coach Aitken's
Achievements
- 2020 Tokyo Olympic Coach
- Five (5) Olympic Medals 2 Gold 2 Silver 1 Bronze earned by his Athletes.
- 4x USA Swimming Development Coach of Year, Highest Award Achieved by 18 & Under results that a coach can achieve
- 10x USA National Team Coach
- 2017-21 Multiple USA National Team Members
- 2009-2021, Eleven (12) consecutive years, multiple USA National Junior Team Members and Coach
- 3x USA Open Water Jr. Worlds Head Coach Team USA
- 3x USA International Team Coach Team USA
- 3x Open Water National Champions
- 4x American Swim Coaches Association Certificate of Excellence
- 2017 Multiple US Open Gold Medal Finishes
- 2017 7th Place World Ranking
- 2017 Head Jr Open Water World Cup Coach Team USA
- 2016 Olympic Medalist Gold and Bronze
- Five 5x attend Olympic Trials and Qualifiers in every event from the 50 Free to the 1500 Free, all strokes, 200 IM and 400 IM
- 2013 World Cup Coach Team US
- 5x Time Speedo Sectional Champions
- 4x Time Nevada State Club Team Championship
- 6x Time Nevada State Runner Up
- 5x Time Southern California Winter Age Group Champions
- 5xTime Southern Nevada Swim Coaches Association Sunset Coach of the Year
- 18 & Under National Champion
- College Athletic Scholarship Winners
- College Academic Scholarship Winners
- Individual State Champions
- Individual State Records
- High School All-Americans
- NCSA All-Americans
- High School Swimming Academic All-Americans
- USA Swimming Academic All-Americans
- New team records
- Junior Olympic Champions
- National Top 10 Rankings
- Junior National Champions
- National Age Group Record Holders
- National Qualifiers with Top 8 appearances
Coach Michael moved to
Las Vegas in September of 2016 to begin working for the Sandpipers
of Nevada. He hails from the Chicago Area where he was born and
raised in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Coach Michael began his
coaching career teaching swim lessons out of his backyard pool when
he was 13 years old. From there he began coaching
Developmental and Summer League teams and hasn't looked back
since. His previous
coaching position was as Assistant Head Coach of the Barrington
Swim Club and Freshman/Sophomore Coach of the Barrington High
School Boys swim team. In his tenure in Barrington, BSC
received Silver Medal USA Swimming Club Recognition and had the
privilege of coaching an Olympic Trial qualifier, 3 State Record
holders, multiple state champions and over 20 National Top 10
swims. Coach Michael is an ASCA Level
5 Coach.
Michael's swimming
career began at age 9 for his local YMCA and eventually concluded
competing for Eastern Michigan University. While at EMU, the
Eagles won 3 Mid American Conference Championships and received
All-MAC Academic Honors and MAC Swimmer of the Week. Michael
graduated college in 2013 with a degree in Secondary Education-Math
and a Minor in Teaching English as a Second
Language.
Coach Barber joined the Sandpiper coaching staff
in 1996. He has been extremely successful coaching our 14&U
Athletes, many holding team records. Chris is also known amongst
other coaches and parents in Nevada and California as Southern
Nevada’s best age group coach. He has always produced results
with swimmers and many go onto Southern California Swimming
Selection Teams, International All-Star Teams, and National Age
group record holders. Chris was part of the Sandpipers 2011 &
2004 Nevada State Club Championship Staff. Chris is well educated
in the sport of swimming and currently holds a Level 3 ASCA
designation.
His level of education and experience gives our
swimmers the best competitive edge they deserve. With his
encouragement the swimmers are dedicated, focused, motivated, and
have fun!
Chris began swimming when he was 10 years old for
the Las Vegas team, Nevada Rapids. Through high school he trained
with the Las Vegas Gold swim team and was coached by Bob
Bowen. Chris also attended and competed on the high school
swim team at Bishop Gorman High School for three years. Chris
started his coaching career with three years as a coach for the
Clark County Parks and Recreation program. His success led him to
encourage many swimmers to join year round swim teams, eventually
leading him to year round swimming as a coach with the Sandpipers.
Chris is a 6th grade teacher with the Clark County School
District. His teaching experience enhances his excellent ability to
coach kids and understand their needs. Chris and his wife, Diane,
have 4 children, Sarah, Ryan, Cole,
Delaney.
Coach Barber’s
Achievements
- 2008, 2007 Desert Committee Age Group Coach of the Year
- 2013, 2012, 2011 & 2004 Nevada State Club Team Championship
- 2002 - 2005 Southern California Winter Age Group Champions
- Junior Olympic Champions
- International All Star/Zone team qualifiers
- USA Swimming National Top 16 Age Group rankings
- National 1st place season ranking
Coach Jake has been
a member of the Sandpiper coaching staff since April 2016. Jake
grew up on the other side of the country, in Fairfax, Virginia, and
began swimming competitively as an 8-and-under. Jake started
coaching for his summer league team, the Fairfax Frogs, in 2005 and
progressed from a Junior Coach to Assistant Head Coach in
2012. While with the Frogs he taught over 100 kids how to
swim and led many to make the jump from summer league to USA
swimming.
Jake attended Penn
State Behrend, where he swam and played water polo. Jake was the
captain of the water polo team his junior and senior years. He
received recognition as athlete of the week multiple times
throughout his collegiate career, and was recognized with the
leadership and sportsmanship award his junior and senior years. In
his final collegiate swim, Jake anchored the men's 4x100 Free relay
to a first place finish at the Fredonia State Invitational setting
a pool record in the process.
Outside of the
pool, Jake was a founder of the Penn State Behrend Snow Club (the
largest student group on campus in its first year), and, in 2012,
he qualified for the XTERRA Off-Road Triathlon National
Championships (Jake returned to triathlon in 2016, and is planning
to compete in the XTERRA world championships in 2018 or 2019). Jake
graduated in 2012 with a B.S. in Business, Liberal Arts, and
Science with minors in English, Economics, and Management and
membership in Phi Kappa Phi and Omicron Delta Kappa honor societies
(he is also a few credits shy of a masters degree in education, and
hopes to stop procrastinating this
year).
After graduating,
Jake joined Teach For America as a 2013 corps member and moved to
Las Vegas to teach at Sunrise Mountain High School. Jake began
coaching at Sunrise in 2015 and is currently in his third year as
the head coach. At Sunrise Mountain, Jake led the team to its first
ever State Championship relay qualifier in 2014, and the two
highest team finishes at D1A regionals in 2015 and 2016. With the
Sandpipers, Jake helped two members of the Senior 3 group qualify
for D1A state championships in 2016, and plans to follow that up
again this year.
Coach Katelyn started her
swimming career at age 6 for the Clark County recreational team.
She joined Sandpipers at age 11 and competed for the team until she
graduated high school in 2014. During her time on the team, Katelyn
swam at multiple State Championships, Winter Age Groups, and Junior
Olympics meets. She swam for Spring Valley High School where she
holds multiple school records, was team captain, and helped her
relay qualify for the Nevada High School State Championship
meet.
Starting in 2012, she
coached for the recreational swim team and taught swim lessons for
Desert Breeze. Then, in 2014 she began coaching Sandpipers stroke
school and White 2 groups. Coach Katelyn takes pride in helping
young swimmers find a passion for the sport, while also teaching
them that hard work and having fun can be done at the same time.
Katelyn is currently attending UNLV majoring in pre
medicine/biology with plans to graduate in 2018 and continue on to
Medical School.
Coach Gonzalez is a Level 3 ASCA certified Coach.
He coaches the Senior group. Brent is also a teacher at Palo Verde
High School and is the Head Coach for the Boy's and Girl's Team.
Brent has a wealth of experience from his previous coaching
positions. He was the head coach of Extreme Aquatics and Lake
Elsinore. Brent was also a Head Coach for Riverside Community
College, where he coached 4 Junior College All-Americans. Brent has
a strong background in stroke skills, race strategies, and
sportsmanship. With the Sandpipers Brent has coached State
Champions and Top 16 National Rankings.
Coach Haupt started swimming with the Sandpiper of
Nevada at the early age of 9. He competed for the team for 9 years
and now is currently attending UNLV majoring in Computer Science.
During his 9 years with the Sandpiper he accomplished becoming a
Scholastic Academic All-American, Member of the 2001 Nevada State
Championship time that one by 1 ½ points and a true team
leader of the Sandpiper National team as he was Team Captain during
his days with the club. He has also competed at Sectionals,
Junior Olympics, High School State, High School Regional and Club
States. He had many accomplishments at those levels but one of his
greatest accomplishments of all was being known for his dedication
and work ethic in the pool and in the classroom. Cutter is a
very motivated coach that likes kids and likes teaching them the
skills they need to be better athletes, students, and well rounded
individuals.
Coach Andrew joined the Sandpipers staff in
August 2024. He is originally from the New England area where he
was born and raised in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
Coach Andrew began swimming in middle
school before swimming collegiately at Bridgewater State
University. During his time on the team, he was named Male Swimmer
of the Year as a freshman and eventually served as a team captain
and helped the Bears to what was at the time their highest
conference finish in school history as a senior. Coach Andrew
graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education
with a minor in Psychology in 2019.
Coach Andrew’s coaching career began
in 2018 in the Boston area where he spent four years coaching with
Crimson Aquatics and Gator Swim Club. At Gator, Andrew coached 3 of
the top 6 high-point 10&under boys in New England in 2021. In
addition, he coached numerous age group LSC and zone champions. He
recently spent the past two years at Chattahoochee Gold Swimming in
the Atlanta area, where he was named a member of the Georgia
Swimming coaching staff for the 2023 Southeastern zone
championships. In addition, he coached numerous top-10 age group
and senior state level swimmers. During his time at Gator and Gold,
both clubs earned Bronze and Silver Medal USA Swimming Club
recognition respectively.
In addition to his club experience, Andrew
has spent time on the college camp coaching circuit, specifically
at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Texas. Coach Andrew is
an ASCA Level II certified coach.
Bio
to come...
Coach Alonzo has been working with the Sandpipers
for more than 10 years at Philippi Sports Institute and recently
started personal strength training at Lifetime Fitness. Alonzo was
a standout linebacker at UNLV and an exceptional student, earning
both his BS and MS in Kinesiology at UNLV. Besides the Sandpipers,
he has experience working with a wide range of sports teams,
ability levels and ages. From youth soccer teams to training
professional hockey players, like the Golden Knights very own Deryk
Engelland.
Coach Katy is a Las Vegas native and swam for
Sandpipers as an age-grouper. She graduated from Bonanza HS and
went on to swim for UNR, competing all four years and ending with
NCAA qualifying times her senior year. She
currently teaches 5th grade along with being a stroke
school coach... where champions begin!
Coach Katy has been coaching for 20 years.
Starting in Salem, OR, she was awarded Age Group Coach of the year
for Oregon in 2004 and was nominated for Senior Coach of the Year
in 2008. She has coached Oregon record holders and Olympic Trial
athletes.
Bio
to come...
I tried out for the
team in 2014 when I was 11 and swam on the team all the way through
high school under many of the coaches who are still on the team
today. I also represented the Sierra Vista HS swim team, and was
second in the state in 2019 where I broke the school record in
butterfly. Throughout my high school career, I swam at multiple
Junior Olympics, Zones, State, and Regional meets, and achieved
cuts at the Sectional and Futures level.
I went on to swim for
Utah Tech University in 2020, where I competed Division I for four
years. Now, as a retired swimmer in 2024, I return to the team as a
coach. I want to be able to share what I’ve learned through
all my years of swimming and help the kids build their love for the
sport and achieve their goals.
Coach Alexis started her swimming career at the early age of 7 in Maine. During her time competing on a local YMCA club team, she was able to compete on a national level at meets along the East Coast such as the YMCA New England Championships, Eastern Zones, and the ISCA East Coast Elite Showcase Classic. Coach Alexis even competed in New Brunswick, Canada under Maine Swimming. During this time, Coach Alexis also played an important role in helping set numerous team and state relay records for various age groups.
At the age of 15, Coach Alexis moved to Nevada and continued her swimming career with the Sandpipers of Nevada until she graduated high school in 2024. While swimming as a Sandpiper, she swam for Coach Cutter on a senior level and Coach Jake on a national level. It was also during her time spent on this team that she achieved Western Zone cuts.
Coach Alexis also competed for Palo Verde High School on a varsity level and was even team captain her senior year. She contributed towards her team winning the regional meet in 2024 for the first time in several years as well as competing in additional regional and state-level meets.
Coach Alexis is also very devoted to her education as she is currently attending UNLV as a part of the Honors College and is majoring in biological sciences with a concentration in microbiology, where she plans on working in the medical field one day.
Although no longer competing herself, Coach Alexis aspires to use her experience to help younger athletes discover the same passion that she has for the sport of swimming. She wants to be able to help younger athletes grow and be able to succeed in achieving their goals.
