OMNI Swim Club Coaches

Our coaches are "home grown", having swum for OMNI in the past and thus sharing OMNI's unique perspective on swimming and its place in the life of young swimmers. OMNI coaches are dedicated to the following:

Well-Rounded Individuals: We will honor and encourage a broad spectrum of development in our swimmers. We will support participation and excellence in school, music, academic extra-curricular groups and activities, religious endeavors, other athletic pursuits, and family commitments.

Healthy Bodies / Healthy Adults: We will lead by example as we strive to educate our swimmers and their families on adequate nutrition, maintaining an active lifestyle, time management skills, and healthy sleep habits. We will build a social network around healthy living by providing valuable educational opportunities both to our current swimmers and to their high school teammates. We realize that by educating the communities in which our swimmers live we can better promote success.

Injury Prevention: The purpose of swimming is to add to the health of our bodies and minds. With this in mind, we are committed to providing ongoing education, technique training and individual modification, and developmentally-appropriate strength training for the purpose of preventing injury. For those coming to us with injuries due to high training intensities coupled with muscle imbalances and/or stroke technique that compromises joint health, we strive to identify and address the underlying causes of their pain while empowering our swimmers to take appropriate steps to regain their health. We are happy to coordinate our efforts with recommendations provided by certified athletic trainers or physical therapists who may be treating our swimmers.

Lifelong swimmers: Our purpose is to share our passion for swimming and fitness with our swimmers and their families. We are committed to promoting personal dedication and will guide our swimmers to be independently driven as we help them form their personal framework for success. We want our swimmers to feel safe, accepted, and supported as they utilize swimming as a means for focus and growth.

Competitive Drive: Along with personal dedication comes an intrinsic desire to succeed. We will feed this desire with training intensity that is aligned with local high schools and colleges. We will develop swimmers skilled in goal-setting, mindfulness in training and competition, as well as the mental toughness and grit that is needed both in an out of the pool. We will promote sportsmanship and positive attitudes as each swimmer learns their value in building a healthy team atmosphere.

Coach Bios

Lindsey Huilt Harrigan

[email protected]

Competitive swimming experience and specialty events:

I began competing at the age of 7 for the Northeast YMCA Mariners. When OMNI began in 1997, I became an Otter along with many of my Mariner-friends and had the very special experience of spending the rest of my swimming career swimming for my dad. I continued competing within USA Swimming until I was 24. During this time, I also spent 6 years sporting the blue and silver of a Tartan Titan before becoming a proud Ole at St. Olaf College – Um Ya Ya! I was blessed to have coaches who developed me into a versatile swimmer with the ability to compete in all strokes and events, with specialties in breaststroke and IM.

Special coaching areas of interest:

As the first head coach of this team, my dad dedicated 20 years of his life to developing well-rounded swimmers, both in and out of the pool. He consistently taught skills for time management and encouraged participation in a broad array of activities, regardless of what this meant for frequency of training in the pool. As we moved through life it became apparent that the value of being a competitive swimmer at OMNI went far beyond being a fast swimmer or a smart competitor. We developed lasting friendships and an immediate and ongoing support network, developed leadership skills -- both the awareness and ability to lead by example and the ability to verbally guide others to success, gained the confidence to push ourselves to be leaders within our school in class as well as in extra-curricular activities and organizations, and learned to be efficient and organized with our time. Each of these skills was developed by compassionate and dedicated coaches who provided individualized attention and guidance to each of us.

Between spending 10+ years in the pool as an Otter and coaching alongside my dad since 2001, these values became engrained in me. As I developed my own career as a physical therapist I became firmly committed to injury prevention and safe cross-training practices, focusing myself on ways to increase our training effectiveness as a team without creating overuse injuries and burnout in a society where both have become the norm in youth sports.  It is my goal to guide both my swimmers AND their families in building healthy lifestyles with nutritional guidance and activity recommendations to build a stronger, healthier family network.  

Hobbies/Interests:

My husband and I each coach youth athletes and understand that our life choices become a model for countless children and families each year. We spend our free time training and fundraising with Team Challenge, a half-marathon training program through the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, in addition to biking, swimming, and strength training. We are committed to teaching our daughter the joy of an active family lifestyle and to raising her in a home with a diverse and nutritious daily menu. We mill our own wheat, bake our own bread, have a pantry full of food we’ve canned and a freezer full of food we’ve made from scratch all to keep our bodies and minds strong with our very busy lifestyle. 

Toni Wengronowitz

[email protected]

Competitive swimming experience and specialty events: 

I began competing in 7^th grade, age 12, for the Tartan High School Swim team.  I started with OMNI after that swim season and continued with competitive swimming until graduating high school in 2006.  I was always a sprint swimmer and enjoyed doing the 200 IM, 50 free, and 100 backstroke.

Special coaching areas of interest:

I have a strong passion for making sure our swimmers are well rounded and making sure each athlete gets to have individual attention and focus throughout each practice and meet.  I also really love to encourage all of our swimmers to be there to cheer on fellow teammates not only in their races, but throughout each practice, especially those really difficult days.

I also have a large interest in strength training and making sure that we are building muscles to not only make us faster and stronger, but to make sure that our bodies are operating to the best ability that they can.

Hobbies/Interests:

Being around family and friends, spending time outside, cooking (especially trying new recipes), and reading a good book.

Tori Halverson

[email protected]

Competitive swimming experience and specialty events: 

I began competing in 5th grade, at the age of 10, for OMNI and swam up until my junior year of high school. I stayed with OMNI my whole competitive career (go otters!!). My specialty events were distance, the 500 FR, 1000 FR, and my personal favorite, the 1650 FR. 

Special coaching areas of interest:

Swimming has been a big passion of mine. That being said, I hope to help swimmers become aware of their amazing abilities, whether they are in or out of the pool. My wish is that our swimmers develop friendships, leadership skills, and confidence through practices and meets. My passion is that every swimmer can step out of their comfort zone and become a well-rounded individual. 

Hobbies/Interests:

You can usually find me adventuring outdoors, either camping, hiking, or even just relaxing in a hammock. I love being with friends and family, and I could spend hours by any body of water.