| Coaches |
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Bio: Robin Plank joined the SRST coaching staff as an assistant coach to Black and Silver Group coach in 2017. She loved it so much, that when the opportunity came to fulfill the head coach position, she hoped on the opportunity! Robin has nearly 40 years of competitive swimming experience: age group/USA swimmer with the Seneca Valley Swim Team, collegiate swimming with Washington and Jefferson College, where she earned All American Honors in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays in 1994 and 1995. She also held high school team records in the 50 and 100 freestyle for Seneca Valley in 1991. Coach Plank combines her love of medicine/physiology and coaching to implement high quality, challenging practice design that is developmentally appropriate for each Eels practice group. She takes most pride in watching swimmers of all abilities improve in technique and reach individual goals, while encouraging her team to be actively involved in community service. Coach Plank has 6 daughters that have been on the team since 2009. Finally, her good looking husband is awesome and maintains this website! |
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Bio: Kyle Herron Joined the Coaching staff in the Spring of 2018 leading the dryland strength Training efforts. Kyle has over 8 years of coaching young athletes in soccer and baseball. He has been competing in Triathlons for over 10 yrs and has also been competing in the masters swim series for the last 3 years. |
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Bio: Robert became involved with competitive swimming in 2011, when his oldest daughter Maggie joined the New Castle YMCA Swim Team. In the fall of 2013, Maggie and Mollie began swimming with SRST. Maggie now swims collegiately for Grove City College while Mollie continues to swim for SRST and Slippery Rock High School. Robert Massella joined the SRST coaching staff as an assistant coach in the fall of 2023. He holds Stroke & Turn and Chief Judge Certifications with USA & Allegheny Mountain Swimming. He has chaired SRST’s Safe Sport Committee & served on the AMS Safe Sport Committee. He is an assistant coach with the Slippery Rock High School Swim Team. Outside of swimming, Robert teach special education. He enjoys summer vacations with his wife (Lynise) and daughters on Hilton Head Island, SC, fishing for Wild Brown Trout, and AKC Field Trialing and hunting with his beagles. |
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Name: Position: Pre-Team Coach Contact Info: |
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Bio: Carly joined the coaching staff in 2015 as an assistant coach. She is currently a grad student at SRU in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program. She has been swimming on her own since she was two years old! She started competitive swimming in the 5th grade with RACE and went on to swim for the varsity team at Riverside High School. Her favorite stroke is freestyle, and her best event was always the 200 free. She has had some of the best experiences of her life through swimming, including a trip to the PIAA State Championship and a section win for her team during her senior year. She is also employed as a lifeguard and swim lesson instructor at the Riverside pool. She enjoys watching our swimmers improve throughout the season and achieve their goals. To all our swimmers: Practice hard. Swim fast. Have fun! |
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Bio: Bobby has been swimming with the Oil City YMCA since 2008, and swam at Oil City High School for all four years. The proudest moment he had in high school was breaking his coach’s record with three other guys and making it to PIAA States in the 400 free relay. He is currently a freshman at SRU with an undeclared major but looking into the medical or science fields. He also has lifeguarded and taught lessons to a wide range of ages from little kids to adults. He loves to see swimmers screaming and cheering trying to encourage their fellow swimmers in the water to go faster! |
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Bio: Leigha joined SRST coaching staff in 2022 after moving to Pennsylvania for graduate school. She is currently completing her second year at SRU’s Occupational Therapy Doctorate Program. Leigha has 10 years of competitive swimming experience and continued to work as a lifeguard and swim instructor during her undergraduate career. Growing up as a military kid, Leigha swam with 4 different teams in 4 different locations, which provided her with a broad range of technique perspectives coming from various coaches. Her favorite events are the 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke. On the weekends you can find her and her dog on a hike or swimming at the lake! |
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Bio: Anna Plank started coaching the Eels in December of 2023. Anna swam with the Eels for 10 years as an age group swimmer, and is thrilled to coach this team now that she is in college! She is currently attending Grove City College and plans to graduate with her Bachelor's in Elementary and Middle Level Science/English Education. One of her favorite things about coaching, is getting to encourage her swimmers and help them to get better at something that they love! |
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Bio: Coach Kyla swam for 6 years with the Eels and graduated from Slippery Rock High School 2 years ago. She is attending SRU and studying Early Childhood Education. Coach Kyla has previous experience helping on deck with our entry level swimmers and is excited to continue to fulfill this role under Coach Carly’s leadership. |
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Bio: Emma has been a member of SRST for the last 16 years, first as an athlete and now as a coach. She is currently a senior at Grove City College, where she also competes on the swim team. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, being outside, and reading. |