Medicine Hat Manta Rays Summer Swim Club

Board of Directors

President: Glen Mori

Vice-President: Nikki Johansen

Treasurer/Secretary: Jared Giesbrecht

Coach's Director: Parker Maxwell

Officials Chair: Michael Johnson

Casino Chair: Renee Tschritter

Member at Large: Todd Johansen

Member at Large: Tonya Mori


 

Coaches
Parker Maxwell Head Coach

Parker Maxwell is a honours graduate from Medicine Hat High School. He is currently attending the University of Alberta and studying general sciences. Parker will look to become a teacher and enroll in the Faculty of Education. Parker previously swam competiviely for over 10 years. Parker originally started his swimming career with the Fort McMurray Manta Rays until 2013. Following his family's move to Medicine Hat that same year, he joined the Alberta Marlin Aquatic Club. Since then he has attended swim meets across Alberta, even qualifying for Westerns. Parker is a NCCP Level 101 Certified Coach as well as a trained I Can Swim Teacher.

Delrae Vetter Head Assistant Coach
Delrae Vetter is currently attending University at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. She is in her second year, studying criminal psychology and is a  NCCP Level 101 Certified Coach . Delrae swam with AMAC from ages 7-15 achieving Olympic Trials standards as well as medalling twice at Nationals at 14 years old. Afterwards, she moved to Texas to swim under The Woodlands Swim Team, where she gained tremendous knowledge not only in the swimming world but in all aspects of life. Delrae was able to compete against some of the fastest swimmers in the Gulf, and travel throughout Texas along with other states. 
 
While graduating highschool online in Texas, she committed to pursue her athletic career at SFU which is Canada's only NCAA school. In Delrae’s first year at SFU she helped qualify the 4x200m freestyle relay for 2023 NCAA Championships. In her sophomore year, she has qualified for the 2024 NCAA championships set to take place in Ohio. Delrae is super excited to join the summer club as she hopes to pass down not only her knowledge from the years of experience but also the love for the sport!
Mia Nielsen Assistant Coach

Mia is currently a student at Crescent Heights High School. She has been involved in swimming since eight years old. Mia started her swimming career with the Red Deer Catallina and once her family moved to Medicine Hat continued with AMAC. Mia has since moved into coaching swimming. She began coaching with the Medicine Hat Manta Rays Summer Swim Club in 2022 and is now also coaching for the Medicine Hat Waves. Mia is currently completing her NCCP Level 101 and is trained as an I Can Swim Teacher.

Kemah Kohlman Assistant Coach

Kemah is a grade 10 honours student at Crescent Heights High School in the French Immersion Program. She began swimming in the AMAC Mini-Marlins Program at age 7 and swam competitively with AMAC for 7 years. She is a certified lifeguard and an "I Can Swim" Teacher. Kemah is now working on completing her "Starfish Swimming" Instructor course. She had the opportunity to volunteer with the Medicine Hat Manta Rays Summer Swim Club during the 2023 season which started her love for coaching. She is presently a non-competitive swimmer with the Medicine Hat Waves Swim Club and Coaches with the Waves Swim School. In her spare time, Kemah loves to swim, read, travel and bike. 

Jaivyn Barabe Assistant Coach

Jaivyn is currently a grade 12 honors student at Medicine Hat High School. She has been swimming competitively with the Alberta Marlins Aquatic Club and the Medicine Hat Waves Swim Club for the past 9 years. She has repeatedly qualified for provincial and championship meets, with her most recent qualification to the Canadian Nationals Championship Meet. 

She successfully juggles life being a multisport athlete, weight training at Temple Fitness, playing volleyball on the Medicine Hat High School Senior Girls Team and the U17 SEAVC volleyball team, all while still swimming competitively. Jaivyn is a NCCP Swimming 101 Coach and very excited to continue her journey as an assistant swim coach with the Medicine Hat Manta Rays as she'll be able to share her love of the sport with younger athletes.

Glen Mori Volunteer Coach (B.Ed/B.Sc)

Glen Mori grew up swimming with the Markham Aquatic Club just North of Toronto at the age of 9. He continued his swimming career with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and served as captain during his last competitive season in 2002-2003. Glen was a CIS National qualifier. Glen also competed in triathlons and raced with the local cycling club in Lethbridge during university. 

Glen began his coaching career in Lethbridge. He served as the Head Coach of the Lethbridge Summer Swim Club from 2005-2006, as well as the Assistant Coach from 2003-2004. During the year-long season, Glen coached alongside his brother Brad Mori as the Assistant Coach of the Excalibur Swim Club from 2003-2006. Currently, Glen helps coach with the Alberta Marlin Aquatic Club (AMAC) in Medicine Hat. Over the years, Glen has had the opportunity to work with athletes who's ability levels ranged from novice to national qualified swimmers. Glen is a fully certified NCCP Level 2 Swim Coach and a certified I Can Swim Teacher.

Glen now resides in the Medicine Hat area with his wife Tonya and three wonderful children: Masao, Saylee and Arianna. Glen has been a Science Teacher with Medicine Hat High School (MHHS) since 2008.  Since then, he began coaching both the MHHS Cross Country Running Team and Track & Field Team. Glen has taken great pride in the development of both teams. The MHHS Track & Field team has grown from a very small entity to ASAA 4A Provincial Champions in 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022. On the track, Glen has specialized to coach sprint/distance runners and pole vaulters. He is a trained NCCP Level 1 Track Coach. 

Glen believes sport is a means to provide every child with the opportunity for maximum personal growth and development physically, socially, and mentally. Both  MHHS programs he has been involved with have been based around the guiding principles of hard work and building positive relationships to develop good people. These aspects are important values that will continue in his coaching philosophies as he works with the Medicine Hat Manta Rays.

Nikki Johansen Volunteer Coach (M.Ed/B.Ed/B.Sc)

Nikki was first introduced to competitive swimming at the age of 8 with the Medicine Hat Summer Swim Club.  She went on to swim with AMAC followed by four years of university level swimming with the Brigham Young University Cougars where her team achieved the Western Athletic Conference Championship title during the 1994 and 1995 seasons.  Through her swimming career, Nikki was a provincial and national level qualifier.  Nikki has continued to pursue her love of swimming as a competitor in triathlons and in swimming with the Alberta Marlin Aquatic Masters swim club.

Nikki enjoys sharing her passion for swimming and spent many years as a lifeguard and swimming instructor in Medicine Hat and in Winnipeg.  Over the years, she was also an assistant coach to the Medicine Hat Summer Swim Club and AMAC Mini Marlins.

Nikki was raised in Medicine Hat and was happy to return after completing her degree in education to raise her family.  She and her husband Todd have four children, Ethan, Joshua, Adam and Ayla.  Nikki is a teacher for Medicine Hat Public and works with immigrant and refugee students teaching them English and assisting them in adapting to their new community.

Nikki is excited to be part of the return of the Medicine Hat Summer Swim Club and looks forward to helping children learn the valuable skills of competitive swimming and watching as they create new memories and friendships in the pool.

Blair Hughes Mentor/Advisor Coach (B. Physical Ed.)

Coach Blair is the Head Coach Medicine Hat Waves Swim Club and has been coaching with the Manta Rays since the 2019 inaugural summer swimming season. Coach Blair has been an integral part of the development of the Manta Rays Summer Swim Club. He will continue with the club as a mentor coach and advisor to further strengthen the club. His history with swimming in Medicine Hat goes back quite a bit further where he swam with Alberta Marlin Aquatic Club for close to 10 years starting in 1990.

Coach Blair attended the University of Alberta finishing with a Bachelor of Physical Education Degree in 2006. In 2008, he returned to Medicine Hat where he took up his position as Assistant Head Coach with the Alberta Marlin Aquatic Club. While there, he went on to assist the program in growing to be one of the best small clubs in Canada. In that time, Coach Blair served in helping numerous swimmers become provincial champions/ medalists/ finalist and provincial team participants. He was privileged enough to directly assist the Head Coach in coaching Provincial Record Holders, National Age Group Champions, and National Team Members.

While living in Edmonton, wife his wife and two children Coach Blair was with the Olympian Swim Club in the 2016-2017 season. There he was a lead pool coach for the club at their Fountain Park Pool location in St. Albert. During that time, Coach Blair helped in overseeing over 100+ swimmers and a handful of coaches on a weekly basis.

Blair has been competing in triathlons over the last 8 years and has taken his passion for the sport into helping others. As a trained Community Triathlon Coach, Blair has combined his education and experience to help other triathletes become faster and more efficient in the water. Coach Blair loves helping guide others in achieving/exceeding their goals and looks forward to the opportunity to do so with the new summer swimming program here in Medicine Hat.