HEAD COACH

Alexis Henry

 

I started swimming at the Hollidaysburg YMCA when I was five years old and was hooked. When I started high school, I was at Bellwood.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have a pool, so I had to swim unattached with Tyrone during the break or at the end of their high school meets. I moved back to Hollidaysburg during my sophomore year and graduated in 1997.  I went on to swim Division 1 at St. Francis University.  My primary stroke was the butterfly. At one point I held the YMCA record for the 18 & under 100 Fly. I started coaching at Park Hills Country Club in the summer of my freshman year of college and then began coaching at the Hollidaysburg YMCA in 2001. I took a little time off to have children but returned to coaching when my daughter, Bailey turned five and began swimming on the team. (Coach Baron was the coach back then.) I am married to Ben Henry, and we have two children- Bailey (16) and Cooper (14).  This will be my third year as head coach, and I look forward to an amazing year filled with fun and great swims!

ASSISTANT COACHES

 

 

Brian Kephart

 

Coach Brian resides in Altoona with his wife and three children: two daughters and one son. Coach Brian started swimming at an early age and can remember taking early morning swim lessons outside at Prospect Pool in the freezing cold water. He can also remember taking lessons and swimming at the Altoona YMCA. Coach Brian played other sports competitively while in grade school, junior high, and high school. It wasn’t until high school that he decided to compete on the swim team.  Upon graduation from Altoona Area High School, he attended Penn State Altoona. While taking classes there, he was a volunteer coach for his Alma Mater. He was also a lifeguard, taught swim lessons at the Y, and gave private lessons for both children and adults. Coach Brian swam on and off over the next several years for fun and exercise. Once his kids started swimming, he decided to get back involved in the sport.  He was the assistant coach for Altoona Area High School swim team for several years and has now taken over as the Head Coach. This is Brian’s third year of coaching USA and BRY. He continues to look forward to helping swimmers grow as athletes and mature as young people as well.

 

 

Baron Leonard

 

Coach Baron began swimming competitively for Hollidaysburg Area High School in 2000 and then swam for Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 2003-2007. He graduated from IUP in 2008 with a BA in psychology and BS in elementary education. Baron began working as a lifeguard and swim instructor for BRY in 2001. He was the head coach of the summer swim team for a few years there and also an assistant coach at HASD.  From 2005-2010, Baron worked for the Ocean City Beach Patrol.  During the 2023-2024 school year he was the assistant coach for the Girls and Boys swim teams at Hollidaysburg Area High School and subsequently took over as the Head Coach prior to the 2024-2025 season. Baron currently works as a custom metal fabricator.

Michele Holton

 

Coach Michele is a resident of Altoona, PA. She is married and has two daughters. As a child, along with her three siblings, Coach Michele began swimming through the YMCA. She continued to swim competitively for Altoona Area High School and at the collegiate level during her four undergraduate years at Shippensburg University.  After graduating with her Master’s degree in Secondary School Counseling from Shippensburg University, she was hired as a Social Counselor for the Altoona Area School District and served as the assistant swimming coach for the Altoona Area High School Girls and Boys Swim Team for many years. Once her children were born, she took some time off from coaching and swimming. Now that her kids have started to swim competitively, she is excited to be part of the amazing BRY swim team.

COACH EMERITUS

 

Loren Hershberger

 

Coach Loren invented the sport of swimming. Just kidding. He went to York College where he was the Team Captain in his Junior and Senior years and won MVP and most improved both years. He held school records in the 100 Breast and 200 Breast for 19 years and was added to the College Hall of Fame in 1996. Coach Loren assisted coaching in the mid 70’s during the summers while in college and became TigerSharks Head Coach for the first time in 1981. That was A LONG TIME AGO. He started swim clinics at the YMCA with Leanne in the late 80’s that ran until several years ago. He has been involved with the BRY program since 1981 in many roles including Head Coach, Assistant Coach, Swimming Instruction, Meet Operations, Team Operations, and Team Representative.  Coach Loren has helped put 2 Swimmers in Blair County Sports Hall of Fame.