Coaches and Directors

Coaches and Directors
Coaching Staff
Owen Butler Head Coach/Senior Coach

Drew Butler is the Head Coach at Swim Omaha.  Drew has been coaching in the Omaha area for 25 years. During that period of time he has started and ran 2 swim teams and coached for two others. Drew’s swimming experience began at the age of 12 when he swam for the Bellevue swim club. He then swam for Bryan High School and ended his career at UNL. Drew has a degree in meteorology from UNL and works at first national bank as a residential mortgage lender.

Eric Samson Head Age Group Coach

 

Coach Eric is a fifth grade teacher at Hillside Elementary in Westside Community Schools. Eric takes a holistic approach to developing swimmers- focusing on building the skills needed both in and out of the pool to help the young people achieve their goals.
 
Starting his club coaching career at Swim Omaha in 2009, he was the Lead Gold Coach from 2011 to 2019. Eric coached with the Aquatic Club of Elkhorn from 2019-2022. He was also an assistant coach at Westside High School from 2015-2019, and resumed his position in 2021. Eric is a Level 2 Certified coach member of the American Swimming Coaches Association, and earned his Masters of Science and Recreation with an emphasis in Coach Education from Ohio University. He draws experience from his research towards his doctoral degree in motivational psychology, and continues to be a lifelong learner in education and swimming. 
 
In 2012 and 2019, Eric was awarded the Midwestern Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year. In 2020, Coach Eric was inducted into the Metropolitan Conference Hall of Fame. He has also served as Head Midwestern All Stars coach and Head Midwestern Zone coach several times over the past decade. In high school, Eric swam for Swim Omaha and the Westside Warriors.  Additionally, he swam at the collegiate level for the University of South Dakota. 
 
Coach Eric takes a swimmer-first approach to help swimmers achieve their goals. He believes that the collaboration between coaches, swimmers, and parents is an integral part of the development of young athletes. Eric is very excited to rejoin the Swim Omaha staff and get started with the new short course season!
Andrew Cunningham Team Administrator and Coach

Andy Cunningham has been a swim coach since 2003.  He started coaching with the Bellevue Swim Club and moved to Swim Omaha after a few years.  During his time with Swim Omaha he was Assistant Coach for Ralston/Gross High School swim team.  

 
Andy's passion for coaching and furthering his knowledge brought him to work under John Leonard with ASCA and SwimFast in Fort Lauderdale FL.  After two seasons, Andy happily accepted a position with Millard North to be the head high school swim coach and Aquatics Director.  
 
Andy started at Millard North in the Fall of 2013.  Since this time Andy has been selected by his peers at the Metro Coach of the year three times (2014, 2016, 2021) with 1 Metro Conference Title.  During his time at Millard North his athletes have broken all but three school records.  He has also had 2 state champions.
Ashton Porter Lead Silver Coach
Rebecca Kratky Lead Bronze Coach
Melinda Ehlers Lead Novice Coach
Docker Hartfield Senior Coach

Docker graduated from Griswold High School in 1973 after competing in four sports.   His college years were spent at Buena Vista University at Storm Lake, Iowa. He swam competitively in college and earned four letters. Docker helped the team win its conference championship four years in a row. He specialized in the 200 and 500 freestyle races.

Docker started his coaching career in 1976.  In 1991 he merged his team, Team Nebraska, with OWSC and BSC to form Swim Omaha.  In 1999 Docker was the head Ralston High School swimming coach.

Docker's coaching philosphy is "The way you perform is the way you practice. You also need hard discipline. It's that simple."

 

Mykenzie Leehy Senior Coach
Mykenzie (Leehy) Liston is in her second year as head coach of the College of Saint Mary Swim Team.
 
Years at College of Saint Mary: 2
 
Alma Mater: University of Houston (2021) Bachelor of Science in Sports Administration; Auburn University (2022) Master's of Arts in Education.
Victoria Schab Age group coach
Victoria graduated from Ralston High School in 2011 she was a swimmer for Docker Hartfield and a club swimmer for Swim Omaha since Middle School. She went on to continue her swimming career at UNO as a backstroker. Victoria started coaching for us in the fall of 2012 with the silver group. She graduated from UNO in 2015 and went on to further her education at the College of Saint Mary to pursue a Master's degree in Education with an emphasis in Physical Education and Health. Victoria is now in her 5th year of teaching Middle School PE in Bennington and has taken over the role of head coach. She has a passion for working with children and loves to share her knowledge of swimming with her athletes. As a silver group coach, she gets to help develop swimmers from little on, by helping better their strokes, and start training them to be fast swimmers! Victoria enjoys seeing her past swimmers that have moved up to the next level and then eventually into high school, thinking back to when they were so little and just learning thinking that she had something to do with where they are now! 
Victoria enjoys helping new parents learn the sport of swimming and meets, along with mentoring our new coaches! She is looking forward to a great season!
Gabriel Spiess Coach, Silver
Abigail Mitchell Gold Coach

Abbey swam four years for UNO’s women’s program. Recently graduating with a degree in elementary education, Abbey is a first grade teacher in the Omaha Public Schools district. She is passionate about being involved in swimming to help children grow their love for the sport while also fostering an environment for them to develop the skills and techniques to be their most successful selves in and out of the pool.

Peggy Speer Head Coach [Bellevue Swim Club]

-Grew up in Jackson Michigan and started swimming at age 5
- Graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Education. 
- Coaching competitive club swimming for the past 35 years
- Head Coach of Bellevue Swim Club since 1994
- Head Swim Coach of Bellevue West since 1993

Peggy is a strong stroke technician that believes that strokes have to be technically correct and then proper training will make a swimmer fast.  She believes swimming is a sport to last a life time and that through desire, determination and dedication swimmers will learn skills that make them champions in the water and champions in life. 

Chuck Jones Bellevue Coach
Charles (Chuck) swam for Coach Jack Jackson and Omaha Suburban Aquatic Club from 1978 to 1988.   The first of two Olympic Trials qualifications was in 1980 at the age of 14 in the 1500m Freestyle.  In 1984, he won the 400m Freestyle at Junior Nationals West where he briefly held the national record, an entire 15 minutes!  Blocked by a state rule denying athletes the right to train with private teams while participating in the High School program, he graduated from Bellevue East High School never having swum for the school.  Chuck swam at the University for Kansas under Gary Kempf where he was the Big 8 Champion in 1650 Freestyle from 1985-1987.
 
Chuck has been very active in Boy Scouts of America since leaving the University of Kansas, volunteering as an aquatics director and unit commissioner. He works in Global IT and travels the world having more than 1.5 million air miles while visiting 30 countries and still counting. He is happily married, has one son, volunteers with Bellevue Swim Club, and remains in the Omaha area.
Robbie Burke Bellevue Coach

Robbie graduated from Bellevue West, and is currently attending Metro Community College for his general education classes with the intention of transferring to UNO. He has worked for BSC for about a year and a half. On top of his coaching experience he has 13 years of swimming experience. 

Kelly O'Toole Silver Coach
Board of Directors
Bryan Kratky Board Member
Andy Rider Board Liaison for Westside Schools
Docker Hartfield Board Liaison for Ralston Schools
Owen Butler Head Coach
Andrew Cunningham Treasurer and Team Administrator
Eric Samson Non-Voting Member