Jeff Rodriguez
Head Coach and Senior Coach
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Coach Rodriguez enters his
thirteenth year as a coach of the Edina Swim Club and his
eleventh year as the Head Coach of the novice to national ESC
program. As Head Age Group Coach 1999-2000, he led the Age Group
program to their third consecutive state title, qualifying swimmers
in the top 16% in the country. The following year, Coach Rodriguez
was promoted to Head Coach.
Coach Jeff led the senior level Edina
Gators in breaking state records, earning top 16 honors, qualifying
swimmers for junior nationals, US Open and Senior Nationals in the
past six years as Head Coach. Coach Jeff earned a Bachelor of
Education in Kinesiology with minors in Psychology, Spanish and
Coaching from the University of Minnesota. He was a four year
letterman at the University of Minnesota Men’s Swimming Team
and a member of two time Big Ten Championship titles. Coach Jeff
swam 200 Breast, 200 IM and 400 IM at the national
level.
For fun, Coach Rodriguez enjoys exercising
and traveling.
Denise Carlson
Head Age Group Coach-Gator I, Jr, Sr Br
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Coach Denise grew up in
Nashville, Tennessee, where she swam and played water polo with the
Nashville Aquatic Club. After moving to Minnesota in 1985,
she became involved in triathlons. She graduated from the
University of Minnesota in 1987 with a degree in psychology, and
began her coaching career at that time.
Denise has spent the last
28 years coaching and teaching at every level of swimming in
Minnesota, and has achieved Level III ASCA certification.
Since coming to Edina Swim Club in 2006, she has coached hundreds
of state and zone level swimmers, including State Champions, Zone
Champions, State Record holders, and #1 Nationally ranked Age Group
Swimmers.
She has been a Minnesota
Zone Coach 6 times, Minnesota ASCA President and Minnesota
Swimming Coach Representative, as well as the Minnesota Disability
Chair. In 2011, Denise was awarded the Minnesota Age Group
Coach of the Year.
Denise lives in Woodbury with her husband, and has 4 children of
her own. She loves kids, swimming, decorating and movies. Her
mission as a coach is to encourage and empower swimmers to believe
in themselves, develop fully as athletes, and take away the values
from the sport that will help them reach their full potential in
all of life's endeavors.
Erich Welton
Jr Prep & Masters Coach
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Coach Erich grew up in
Madison, Wisconsin and started swimming at five years old. Erich's
mom was his coach for the first eight years as he swam at
various swim clubs around the city. Erich swam at Middleton High
School where he was named co-captains his junior and senior year.
During Erich's senior year, he was the High School State Champion
in the 500 Free and placed third in the 200 Free. Coach Erich
attended the University of Minnesota where he swam for four years,
lettering his senior year. Erich graduated in December of
2008 with a BA in Art.
Since February of 2008,
Erich has been coaching for the Edina Swim Club. For the past three
summers, he has coached the 11-12 group at Interlachen Country
Club. Erich was a camp counselor the summer of 2006 at the
Minnesota Swim Camps. In high school, Erich taught swimming lessons
at the Walter R. Bauman Aquatic Center in Middleton, Wisconsin for
three summers. He also helped out with the summer league swim team
when they needed the extra help.
In Coach Erich's free
time he enjoys wakeboarding and disc golfing. Erich loves being out
in the sun and being in water. Erich likes to meet new people and
enjoys hanging out with his friends.
Fun Fact: Coach Erich is
a USA Swimming State Champion in two states ~ Wisconsin AND
Minnesota!!
Nicole Hedman
Gator III Coach
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Nicole Hedman joined the Edina staff in September 2012 and has
been involved in swimming for over 30 years as a club swimmer, high
school swimmer, college swimmer, and coach. She has extensive
coaching experience with a number of metro area clubs (ABC swim
club, MVSC, Elk River, and Jetstream Aquatics) and also high
schools (Elk River, Anoka, Champlin Park, and Skyview in
Montana). Nicole has had the honor of being a Team MN
zone coach for 8 years, coaching the 15 & over girls, 11-12
girls and the 10 & under girls.
As a swimmer, her personal accomplishments include being captain
for her high school and college teams. She was a High
school state qualifier and 2 time NCAA qualifier. Coach
Nicole's career coaching accomplishments include:
- 25 state champions ages 8 & under to senior level
- 50+ swimmers as zone qualifiers
- 5 junior national qualifiers
- 3 team state championships
Nicole loves seeing the faces of the swimmers when they
have an “I get it moment” or when they surprise even
themselves with their swims. She is married to Mark and has 3
children, Nick, Matthew, and Jacob. She grew up in Ramsey, MN
and graduated from Anoka High School and then graduated from the
College of St. Catherine with a degree in Elementary
Education. She recently went back to school and finished her
middle school math endorsement. Nicole currently teaches math
at Northdale Middle School in Coon Rapids.
Paige Gilgan
Gator II White and Gator II Green Coach
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Coach Paige started
swimming when she was eight years old for the Valley Dolphins Swim
Team, and, at the age of eleven, Paige moved to the Twin Cities
Swim Team. When Paige was 13, she achieved her Junior
National cuts in the 100 and 200 Freestyle and Backstroke. The next
year at the Seattle Junior National's meet, she placed 2nd in the
200 backstroke, and eventually set the 15-16 girls Minnesota State
record in the 200 backstroke.
Coach Paige swam for
Eagan High School, and placed top eight at the State Meet and
lettered all four years. During her senior year at Eagan, she was
named co-captain. That same year, Coach Paige was the High School
State Meet Champion in the 200 and 500 freestyle, setting a new
State Meet record in the 200 freestyle. That fall, Coach Paige was
named Female Fall Athlete of the year by the St. Paul Pioneer
Press.
Coach Paige attended the
University of Minnesota on a swimming scholarship and graduated in
2006.
Mike Holmes
High School Fitness
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Mike is Canadian born, but has lived in the Twin Cities area
since he was thirteen years old. From the age of 13 –
17 Mike won over two-dozen state titles, and picked up a central
zone high-point award.
Mike attended and swam at the University of Minnesota for four
years. At the beginning of his freshman year he was told that
as he was, he would not be on the traveling team or Big Ten
Championship team. He made the decision to be extremely
physically dedicated and did as much as possible to research and
learn as much as he could about the sport so he could better help
his team. He researched countless swim science and swim
theory articles, sat in on USA Swimming clinics held at the
University, and picked the minds of several National and Olympic
level swimmers while they were attending invitationals at the
University.
By the time he finished his senior year at the University Mike
was voted two-time “Most Improved Swimmer” on the team,
he was a three-time Big Ten runner-up in the mile, three-time
individual NCAA qualifier and point scorer, placed 15th
at U.S. Olympic Trials, placed 3rd at Canadian
Olympic Trials, and at one point was in the top 35 fastest swimmers
in the world.
Mike got in to coaching and fell in love with it. He loves
being able to bring all of the things he learned from his
experiences to the table. It is extremely rewarding for him
to see all of the swimmers grow as athletes and as people.
Natalie Bailey
Assistant Coach
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Natalie started swimming during her freshman year in high
school. She competed two years as a Gator and one season on
the Eden Prairie high school team. She began coaching last
year for the Gator l's,and works with Gator II as well. Natalie
plans to go to school to become an elementary school teacher.
Lucas Baarlaer
Assistant Coach
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Lucas Baarlaer swam at the University of North Dakota and earned
a B.S. in Exercise Science, and is currently pursuing his M.S. in
Kinesiology.
Lucas also coached at UND from 2008-2012 and his swimmers earned
multiple NCAA I "B" cuts, accounted for several school records. He
also had 3 swimmers achieve 2012 Olympic Trials cuts.
He is an ASCA Level 3 coach and is pursuing Level 4. His
hometown is Boulder, Colorado.
Hailey Carlson
Assistant Coach
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Hailey began coaching with the Gators in 2011. She was a 6
year letter winner at Woodbury High School, and swam at the
University of North Dakota. She is currently finishing her
elementary education degree and works as a special ed para.
She brings her classroom experience to her work with the youngest
Gators. When not at the pool, Hailey enjoys crafting and
photography.
Jessica Carlson
Assistant Coach
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Jessica has been coaching with Edina Swim Club since 2011, and
is also involved with our Masters swim team. She grew up
swimming for Woodbury High School and Twin Cities Swim Team, and
went on to swim at the University of North Dakota where she was
conference champion in the 1650, 4 year letter earner, and NCAA All
American.
Jessica is a CPA and works as an accountant with
Lifetouch. In her spare time, she enjoys training for
triathlons.
Andrea Hanson
Assistant Coach
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Andrea Hanson grew up swimming for Edina Swim Club from the ages
of
7-18 and was coached by Coach Jeff. She also swam on the Edina
High
School girls team from 8th to 12th grade. After graduating from
high
school, Andrea went on to swim for the Minnesota Gophers. She was
a
four year letter winner and team captain her senior year. She was
also
a part of the Gophers team that won the Big Ten title in 2008.
Andrea works in recruiting for General Mills. She also enjoys
biking, competing in triathlons, and reading.
Kim Harrod
Assistant Coach
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Kim grew up in Burnsville, swimming on Blackdog and coaching
there for years. She went on to swim for all 4 years at the
University of Minnesota. She has been teaching math at
Burnsville High School for the last 11 years and has also been the
girl's high school coach there since 2008. Kim has been a 10
time zones coach as well as the Head Zones Coach in 2012. She
joined the Gator staff in 2008 and works with all groups.
Liz Holman
Assistant Coach
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Paul Kirihara
Assistant Coach
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Paul grew up in Bloomington and started swimming at the age of
7. He swam competitively for 15 years all the way through
college. He attended Gustavus Adolphus College studying Financial
Economics, and his swimming accomplishments included DIII
National qualifier senior year, school record holder in medley
relays, and ranking top 3 all time for backstroke. He began
coaching after college and coached a country club league, a girls
high school team, a boys high school team, as well as joining the
Gators coaching staff in the fall of 2011. Paul is currently
employed at a Professional recruiting Firm.
Breanna Lindholm
Assistant Coach
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Breanna Lindholm started coaching with the Gators in September
2012. She grew up in Manitowoc, Wi where she started swimming when
she was 6 years old and continued throughout high school and
college at Carroll University. She moved to Minnesota to work at
TCF Bank Stadium in 2010. She currently works with the Minnesota
Twins in Ballpark Operations and enjoys running and baking in
her free time.
Carrisa Matenaer
Assistant Coach
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Carrisa joined the Edina Gators in September 2011 after coaching
with a team in North Carolina, working with swimmers ranging from 8
months old to 18, for the previous two years.
She began swimming competitively at the age of 6 in Madison, WI
competing in the 4 different states her family lived in growing up.
She went on to be an All-American High School swimmer in Woodbury,
MN and continued swimming through her sophomore year of college at
the University of Minnesota.
Carrisa graduated in 2008 with a degree in Advertising and is
currently pursuing her Master’s in Sport Management. In her
free time she enjoys training for marathons, cooking, reading and
hanging out with her dog and cat.
Griffin Moodie
Assistant Coach
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Griffin Moodie grew up swimming for the Edina Gators from age 6
to 18. The majority of that time he was coached under Head Coach
Jeff Rodriguez. Griffin also swam for Edina High School for 6
years, lettered all 6 years and was captain of the team his senior
year under Coach Art Downey. Post high school, Griffin attended
Boston University and swam Division 1 where he was also captain his
senior year and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in International
Relations. After college Griffin moved to Los Angeles where he
worked various jobs and continued swimming for recreation with Rose
Bowl Aquatics and the Trojan Swim Club at the University of
Southern California.
Since moving back to Minnesota Griffin has enjoyed coaching the
Gators greatly. Beyond swimming, Griffin enjoys biking, golf,
music, movies and reading. He is looking forward to another
competitive swim season and is extremely impressed by the team and
how it has grown.
Carolyn Triggs
Assistant Coach
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Carolyn has been coaching for the Edina Gators since last fall
in 2012. She began her swimming career when she was very young on
Edina Swim Club. She also swam for the Edina Girls' High
School team and was a captain her senior year. Carolyn
continued swimming in college at St. Ben's on the Blazer Swimming
and Diving Team. At St. Ben's, she studied elementary
education and graduated this past December. She has
loved her experience as a swimmer and couldn't be happier as a
coach for the Edina Swim Club! In her spare time, she loves
to run.
