About Shaker Swimming

Meet the Coaches

Eric Peterson

Eric is entering his eighth year with the Shaker program. He is also the head coach for the Shaker Heights High School program. He was the Lake Erie League coach of the year from 2002 - 2009. Eric graduated from Kent State University. Prior to coming to Shaker, Eric was the head coach for the Kent Roosevelt High School team and the Western Reserve Seariders. Eric has served as the head counselor for Richard Quick and Skip Kenney's National Stanford University Swim Camp. Currently, Eric is a swim instructor at Woodbury Elementary School.

Rob Fellinger

Rob was an All-American Hawken High School swimmer and an All-American swimmer at Ohio Wesleyan. Rob has a master's degree in Education. Rob coached the Shaker Sharks and High School swimmers for ten years. For seven years, he taught in Shaker as an elementary school teacher. Rob will be working with the high school swim program.

Tina McCauley

Tina is a Shaker physical education teacher and a shark coach for the past eight years. Tina was the head swim coach at the Louisville YMCA for six years. Tina is a graduate from Kent State University and John Carroll University: bachelor degrees in Physical Education and Leisure Service Management and a master's degree in Education. In 2005 & 2006 Tina was a Lake Erie Zone Coach. In 2007, she was the Central Zone Meet Director. Tina will be coaching the Masters program and will be a substitute Shark coach.

Brendan Pham

Brendan has been with the Shaker Sharks since its inception twenty two years ago. He is a graduate of Cleveland State University. Brendan will work with the youth sharks and Middle School swim team throughout the year.

Bryan Wamsley

Bryan (sixth year as a shark coach) swam with the Shaker Sharks from 1988 through 1997. Bryan was an All-American Shaker High School swimmer. Bryan graduated from Princeton University in 2001. He also holds a master's degree in Education from John Carroll University. Bryan was a 2007 and 2008 Lake Erie Zone Coach. For the past four years, Bryan has been a teacher at Hawken Lower School. Bryan also developed and continues to run the Shaker Swimming website. He will work with the select youth swimmers.

Grace DuGar

This is Grace's second year with the Sharks. She is a graduate of Denison University. Grace was a four year member of the Cleveland Heights High School Varsity Swim Team. Grace will be working with the youth Sharks again this season.

Vickie Ryan

This is Vickie's third year coaching with the Sharks. She coached for six years with the Akron Firestone swimming team. She was an All-American swimmer at Firestone High School. She swam for four years at Akron University. She has a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education. Currently she is a substitute teacher in the Shaker school district. Vickie works primarily with the select youth and high school swimmers.

Irena Mazi

Irena is in her first year with the Shaker Sharks. Her coaching experience began at Cleveland State University as the Assistant Women's Swimming Coach from 1995 - 1998. Irena was the head coach of the Willoughby South and Eastlake North Swim teams from 2002 - 2005. In 2004 and 2005 Irena was named the Premier Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in Boys Swimming. She has also held assistant coaching positions at Westlake High School (1999) and Saint Ignatius (2009). Irena holds master's degrees in Sports Management from Cleveland State and in Education from Ursuline College. She is currently an 8th grade science teacher in Willoughby-Eastlake Schools. Irena will be working with the select youth and high school swimmers.

Mike Larsen

This is Mike's first year with the Sharks. Mike was a four year member of the Cleveland Heights High School Varsity Swim Team where he earned All Lake Erie League Honors in 2001. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English from Ohio University in 2007, and recently received his teaching license in Middle and High School Language Arts from Cleveland State University. In addition to coaching with the Sharks, Mike will be a substitute teacher in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights school districts.

Sarah Tobin

This is Sarah's eleventh year with the Sharks. Sarah was the head coach at Cleveland Heights High School and Notre Dame Cathedral Latin. Also, Sarah was the swim coach at Forest Hill Swim Club. Sarah manages the Sharks; she takes care of all the fees and paper work for the Shaker swimming program. Currently, Sarah is a swim instructor at Woodbury Elementary School and is the pool manager for the City of Mayfield Heights in the summer. She is also the current Administrative Vice Chair for Lake Erie Swimming.

Ernest Welsch

Mr. Welsch founded and still directs the Shaker Sharks Swimming Program. He is a graduate from Temple Universtiy, Penn State and Cleveland State University with a variety of degrees in recreation, health, physical education and exercise physiology. Welsch, the head Shaker High School Swimming Coach from 1982 to 2002, was voted Northeast Ohio Women's or Men's High School Swimming Coach of the Year ten times. Mr. Welsch was also voted State High School Coach of the year for women in 1995 and for men in 1998. Mr. Welsch was inducted into The Ohio High School Swimming Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005. "King" Welsch has been teaching Physical Education in the Shaker School District for twenty nine years.