Nancy Hennessy , Head Coach

Nancy Hennessy was born in Louisville, Kentucky where her passion for swimming began at an early age participating in summer league swimming and progressing to year round swimming with the Lakeside Seahawks.   She was a national level athlete furthering her career at Vanderbilt University graduating with a degree in Elementary Education.

She began coaching with the Nashville Aquatic Club in 1994.  Her four years in Nashville gave her the exposure of working with every group in the program.   She was an age group assistant at the top age group level and coached the two introductory level groups as well.  She was the Senior Assistant Coach under John Morse's guidance for two years.   Her final year in Nashville Nancy was the Head Age Group coach, overseeing and organizing all the age group coaches, season plans, and education.  This included four groups at the home site and two satellite locations.

In 1998 Nancy moved to Jacksonville, Florida to become the Head Age Group Coach with the Bolles School Sharks.   Under her direction the age group program has grown from 80 swimmers to 175.  She designed all four individual groups within the age group program.   She developed coach's education and leadership, meet schedules and designs, and coordinated the age group schedule.  While at Bolles, Nancy was also a Senior Assistant Coach in many different facets.   She was given the opportunity to work with many top caliber coaches, which enriched her knowledge and fueled her passion for swimming.

Nancy has developed athletes that began at the local level only to move on to state champions, zone champions, Top 16 rankings, junior national qualifiers, senior national qualifiers, NCAA Division I athletes and students, NCAA Champions, and Olympic athletes.

Her contributions and achievements with USA Swimming includes:  a member of USA Swimming age group panel, guest speaker at the National Age Group Clinic on age group planning and designs, Florida Swimming Board of Directors as Age Group Vice-Chairman and winner of the Age Group Coach of the Year in Florida Swimming.

Having worked with two of the best club programs in the country as her guide, an insatiable desire to learn and grow as a coach and a person, and her passion for swimming make for an exciting time for Gator Swim Club.  

In her free time Nancy enjoys spinning, yoga, reading and cooking, but mostly spending time with her husband, Chris, and their twin four year old boys, Cameron and Ty.

Chris Oliver, Senior I/II
Coach Oliver is a 1991 Electrical Engineering Graduate of the University of Delaware.  He has been involved in year round swimming since the age of five.  He has taught every level of swimming from 6 month old to 90 year old masters.  Coach Oliver began his coaching career in summer league swimming in Wilmington, DE and then lead AI DuPont HS to a state championship and three
second place finishes in his tenure as the Co-Head Coach.

After graduating from college, he took a job in Nashville, TN, but could not stay out of swimming. Coach Oliver began coaching with the Nashville Aquatic Club in 1991 as the senior assistant, and then became the Head Age Group Coach in 1993.  During his tenure as the Head Age Group Coach, the Nashville Aquatic Club won 10 out of 12 Southeastern Swimming Championships.  While at NAC, Coach Oliver guided many athletes to Top 16 rankings and Junior National Qualifying standards.  He also assisted in developing many National Qualifiers.  Further, he opened 2 satellite
locations for NAC.  Finally, during this time Coach Oliver achieved ASCA Level 4 certification.

In 1997 Coach Oliver decided to leave full time coaching and utilize his education.  He coached masters for a year, and took a team of approximately 15 to Masters Nationals with the Music City Masters.  There were many top 8 finishers, one being his wife.  His job then lead him to Jacksonville and he immediately began coaching age groupers with the Bolles School Sharks.  

Coach Oliver comes to Gator Swim Club with a true enthusiasm for the sport of swimming.  He hopes to instill a passion for the sport of swimming in all the athletes, and loves to use the environment of swimming to teach young athletes many of life's lessons.  He looks forward to working with
everyone to help the Gator Swim Club athlete's become the best they can be in and out of the pool.

In his spare time, Coach Oliver enjoys running, golfing, and spending time with his wife and twin 4 year old boys, Cameron and Ty.

Katie Emmerich, Alligators
Gator Swim Club is pleased to announce the hiring of Katie Emmerich to guide the Alligator group.  This hiring fills a crucial need for our club, providing well-qualified enthusiastic leadership for our team.  Most recently, Katie served as an age group coach at the Makos Aquatic Club of Gainesville.  She was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and is very excited to be living and coaching in Florida!  Katie has been coaching for over 6 years and is certified Level 2 by the American Swimming Coaches Association.  She has experience as a successful high school head coach, age group, and summer league coach.  In St. Louis, she began her club swimming at a young age and went on to compete for Webster University where she earned her B.A. in Sports Communications with an emphasis in Graphic Design and Photography.  In her spare time, Katie enjoys wandering nature trails, rollerblading, playing with her dog, and relaxing on the beach.

Brent Arckey, Senior I/II and Junior Assistant
Brent Arckey, 23, is an Orlando, Fl native where he graduated from Winter Park Highschool.   While in Orlando, he swam for Trinity and Patriot Aquatic Clubs and the Winter Park Wildcats.  He specialized in the middle distance freestyles and individual medley events.   Brent attended and swam at the University of Alabama for two years before transferring to the University of Florida to finish his degree.  He will graduate with a major in Sports Management and a minor in Business.   Brent has been an assistant as well as the head Masters Coach at Gator Swim Club for 2 years.  Brent enjoys swimming and working out in his spare time. 

Kristin Gilliam, Orange and Blue Gators
Kristin comes to Gator Swim Club after completing her collegiate swimming career at the University of Florida.  Kristin is a local Gainesville resident and attended Buchholz High School where she was a four-time individual event State Champion and a two-time State Champion as a member of the 200 & 400 Freestyle Relay.

Kristin was a member of Gator Swim Club since age 15.  From the age of seven, she was a member of Florida Aquatic Swim Team of Gainesville which was later acquired by Gator Swim Club.  

Kristin has been a swim lesson instructor with Pinecrest Swim Team of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and is a current swim instructor with Swim America here in Gainesville.

She comes to Gator Swim Club with tremendous swimming experience and enthusiasm!