ACAC COACHING STAFF
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Michael Peterson ACAC Head Coach Email: [email protected]
One of Michael's primary goals as Head Coach is to continue developing athletes across all levels of our program. "I want us to be known for developing our own athletes," he says. "Small-town Iowa can produce high-achieving individuals while keeping our family-friendly atmosphere intact." Michael’s aim is to prepare athletes for life beyond the pool, instilling in them confidence and resilience. Over his 12 years with ACAC, he has been instrumental in nurturing a love and passion for swimming in Ames, Iowa, playing a role in helping the AHS girls' team win multiple titles and securing a boys' team championship. Before returning to ACAC, Michael led Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado as the head coach and aquatics director. During his four-year tenure, he grew the team from 30 to 120 athletes, transforming it into a league contender. Michael also contributed to high school swimming as a volunteer coach for the Arapahoe High School boys’ swim team, an assistant coach for Chaparral High School girls’ team, and later head coach for Grandview High School boys. Under his leadership, Grandview celebrated its first individual state champion, who soon after qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 1500m freestyle. In 2008-2009, Michael was named the Colorado 5A Boys Coach of the Year. All of this while he simultaneously coached for the Colorado Stars club team and worked full-time for Newfield Exploration in the oil and gas industry. At the Colorado Stars, Michael served as a top assistant to Todd Schmitz, helping to develop Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin and nurturing Olympian Kara Lynn Joyce. As head age group coach, he contributed to the team’s six consecutive Colorado Club state titles and two Junior National Championship team titles. In 2012, he coached five athletes at the Olympic Trials and was a key player in producing nationally recognized swimmers. Since rejoining ACAC in 2012, Michael has held various roles, including overseeing the Pre-Senior Group, managing the Fort Dodge site, and ultimately leading ACAC. Initially, he worked with the Pre-Senior group, where he guided swimmers to qualify for the Midwest Sectional meet, with several ranking in the top 20 nationally. He also helped grow the Fort Dodge site from 40 to 90 swimmers in four months and was pivotal in establishing the Junior College Swim Program at Iowa Central Community College. During his tenure as head coach for Fort Dodge High School girls, the team qualified its first individual swimmer for state in six years and multiple relays in a single season. At Iowa Central, the team placed third in men’s and fourth in women’s categories at nationals in its reinstated season. In 2015, Michael returned to the Ames site as acting Head Coach, where he oversaw ACAC’s rise to a Bronze Medal Club in 2017 and a Silver Medal Club in 2018, placing it among the top 100 programs nationally. Under his leadership, ACAC celebrated its first Olympic Trials qualifier in 2016, with that athlete placing in the top 10 at the 2021 Trials. The club has consistently advanced, with multiple athletes qualifying for Winter Juniors and two athletes attending the 2021 Olympic Trials, the most of any Iowa team. In 2022, ACAC reached a milestone with its first athlete being named to the National Junior Team, and in 2023, Josh Chen qualified for the USA National Junior Travel Team and won a World Junior Title in the 100m breaststroke. Michael's journey as an athlete began at Ames High School, where he earned nine high school All-American certificates. He continued swimming at the University of Denver, serving as team captain and setting four school records. Today, Michael lives in Stratford with his wife, Jill, and their four children: Wesley, Savannah, Archie, and Owen.
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Ben Utesch ACAC Head Pre Senior Coach Email: [email protected]
Ben has been coaching for ACAC since 2014 and in that time he has worked as the Senior Assistant coach, Age Group Head Coach and is now in his first full season as the Pre-Senior Head Coach. Since joining the ACAC coaching staff he has coached multiple individual state champions, relay state champions, and team record holders. As the Head Age Group Head Coach the 9-10 year olds have also placed 2nd overall 3 times at the state meet as well. Prior to coaching, Ben started his swimming career with ACAC back in 2001, at the age of 10. Ben set many former team records, won multiple state titles both on relays and individually.
In high school Ben swam for the Ames High Little Cyclones from 2005-2009. He was a 4 year All-Conference swimmer, 3 time All-State qualifier, and 3 time All-American qualifier. His Junior year Ben finished 3rd in the 100 Butterfly and 4th in the 100 Backstroke, his Senior year he finished 2nd in the 100 Butterfly and was the state champion in the 100 Backstroke.
After graduating from Ames High School Ben attended Oakland University, where he swam Division 1 for four years and helped the Golden Grizzlies to 4 conference championships. The Golden Grizzlies finished the season ranked 19th in the country his senior year. Ben graduated in 2013 with a Business Management degree.
In 2020 he also began assistant coaching for both the AHS girls and boys swim teams, helping the girls to another state title in 2020 and a runner-up finish in 2021. |
| Andy Pym Assistant Coach Seniors I grew up in Seattle and attended the University of Oregon where I studied English Literature. While in college I started coaching with a local High School swim team which unbeknownst to me at the time was the beginning of my 30+ year coaching career. I have coached all levels of swimmer from novice summer league swimmers all the way up to developing National AG record holders, JR National champions as well as having swimmers be members of three National JR Teams. My philosophy as a coach is pretty simple and can be defined by two simple guidelines I'm excited to work with ACAC, a team I have great respect and admiration for . It truly is a privilege to be on deck with this staff and great swimmers. |
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Aron Nakama Pre Senior Coach Email: [email protected] Aron has been with ACAC for nearly 20 years, starting as an assistant in 2001, serving as Head Coach (2002-2011), coaching part time as Head Novice Coach (2015-2022), and now serves as Head Age-Group Coach (2022-present). Aron also trains coaches for the Cyclone Swim School (2016-present). Aron’s philosophy is to teach the love of the sport and have kids enjoy racing. Aron’s return to coaching through the developmental groups has inspired his coaching mentality to emphasize life skills such as goal setting, becoming a good team mate, and developing a healthy competitive spirit. Aron’s goal is to help kids become great people. During Aron’s time as Head Coach ACAC produced 3 National Qualifiers, 4 Junior National Qualifiers, 9 ISI State Records, numerous High School State Champions, and led the team to a 2009 Runner-up finish at the Winter ISI Senior Championships. Aron has coached at National and International level meets including World Championships Trials (2009), and Short Course World Championships (2004). Aron also committed time to developing swimmers in the community by serving as Site Supervisor for Cyclone Swim School (formerly SwimAmerica) from 2002-2009. As a swimmer, Aron represented Iowa State University (1998-2001), and is a former Wisconsin High School State Champion (1998) in the 100 free. Aron competed at 7 Junior National meets for his club and also competed at the 1996 Summer Senior Nationals. Aron is currently working at Iowa State University as a Teaching Lab Coordinator and is working on his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience. Aron is married to Myra Mendoza and they have three kids: Naya, Kano, and Keo. |
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Sophie McCorkle Masters/Age Group 3 Coach Email: [email protected] Sophie has been coaching since 2021 and currently works with both the 10–14 Age Group and the Masters program. A lifelong member of the ACAC family, Sophie began swimming with the club when she was 10 years old. Growing up in such a supportive and competitive environment helped shape her love for the sport—and now she brings that same passion and dedication to her coaching. Sophie has played a key role in developing high-performing teams, including leading the 11–12 boys to team high point victories at both the 2025 Short Course and Long Course State Championships. In addition to her work with ACAC, she has served as a 2025 All-Stars Coach, Iowa Select Camp Coach, and Head Coach for Team Iowa. As an athlete, Sophie was a 13–14 State Champion, earned All-American honors, and competed on the 2021 ACAC Junior National Team. Sophie is passionate about helping swimmers build confidence and skills both in and out of the water. She especially loves seeing athletes grow through the program—just like she did—and takes pride in helping them discover their potential every step of the way. |
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Melissa Chamberlin Melissa joined ACAC in the Fall of 2022 first as a Masters coach and later as an assistant age group coach. She has been coaching and teaching swimming for over 20 years, and has a passion for helping swimmers of all ages reach their highest potential both in and out of the pool. A former Division 1 swimmer at the University of Utah, Melissa is now a competitive Masters swimmer who has won multiple national titles and consistently holds a spot in the top ten in the breaststroke, IM, and distance free events. When not at the pool, Melissa is an associate professor of management at the Ivy College of Business at Iowa State University. |
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Marie Manternach Assistant Coach Novice & Novice Plus Hello! My name is Marie Manternach, and I am a provisional coach for the Novice/Plus groups. While I have never coached before, I did swim club for four years, and high school swimming for all four years of high school. My high school swim coach had a very positive impact on not only my swimming skills, but also my confidence in my capabilities. Because of his large influence, I was able to reach for farther goals and become a three-time state qualifier. The effect that his coaching has had has inspired me to become one myself. I am excited to work the Novice/Plus kiddos to instill that confidence and courage early on. When I am not coaching, I am a full-time student at Iowa State University as a junior studying Landscape Architecture. I also keep busy with church activities and being a team lead for a committee there. I keep busy, but I am so excited to be a part of this wonderful team |
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Audrey Edwards Assistant Coach Novice & Novice Plus Hi! My name is Audrey, I am an assistant for Coach Novice & Novice Plus. I am originally from Illinois where I swam competitively for about 8 years. I have been coaching/teaching swimming for about 5 years now. I started with doing lessons to small groups in the summer and now I am an assistant coach for ACAC. I absolutely love breaking down the mechanics of swimming and teaching kids the basics of swimming. I keep myself busy with attending Iowa State University with a double major in management information systems and business analytics. Go cyclones!!
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Aleah Mulgrew ACAC Assistant Coach Aleah is a fourth-year Iowa State student studying Animal Ecology. While her personal swim team experience is limited to one summer in middle school, she has always loved learning about the mechanics and techniques of swimming. She began breaking down and teaching the strokes to children in high school, and she has continued to do it for the past six years. She’s given lessons to countless kiddos at her local pool in Decatur, Illinois and continued to teach through college at Foss Swim School, both in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and Ankeny, Iowa. Having attended Madison College in Madison, Wisconsin, her coaching career began with Storm Aquatics in 2022. After transferring to ISU to pursue her bachelor’s degree, she joined ACAC as an assistant coach in August of 2024. Aleah loves tending to her houseplants, drinking Dr. Pepper, and is currently learning how to longboard. |
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Lisa Lamb Age Group Coach
Lisa has a love of fitness and coaching. She has grown to love swimming through years of teaching lessons and experiencing club swimming with her two kids. She has a Bachelor's Degree from Utah State University in Exercise Science. She has an additional certification through the American College of Sports Medicine in Exercise Physiology. She has done personal training and a variety of group fitness classes for the past 14 years. She has taught swimming lessons for over 20 years. She has coached age group swimming for over 4 years. During that time, she has worked mostly with the 12 and under swimmers, but has coached the older age group swimmers off and on. Outside of swimming she loves dogs, running and reading.
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Trent Duncan Age Group & HS Prep Coach My name is Trenton Duncan, and I am a student at ISU majoring in Environmental Science! I am from rural Illinois and did not have access to a swim team despite loving the sport, so I am thrilled to be a part of this amazing team. I’ve worked with ACAC and the Cyclone Swim School for a little over three years and LOVED every second of it! |
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Audrey Sickel Age Group 1 Coach My name is Audrey Sickel and I am a student at ISU majoring in |
| Stephanie Thieben Assisant Novice/Novice Plus Coach My name is Stephanie Thieben and I have been coaching Novice/Novice Plus since spring 2024. I started swimming when I was 10 and started with ACAC at the age of 12. I quickly grew to love the sport and all the experiences that came with it. I continued to swim with ACAC until the end of my career and really enjoyed my time with this team. In high school I swam for Ames High and then went on to swim for San Diego State University. My primary events were 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 100 fly. I am so excited to be back to my roots, and this time getting to experience the joys and proud moments of being a coach! I look forward to watching these kids grow and learn in this sport.
I have been married to my husband, John, for 11 years and we have two kids, Noah and Maya. They are both swimming with ACAC for the first time and have really enjoyed it! They are in several other sports as well, so we stay very busy as a family!
I am the school nurse for Madrid Community School District as my full time job and a labor and delivery nurse on the side at Mary Greeley! I love getting to know people and getting the opportunity to support them in any way I can.
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Heather Hansen
Assisant Novice/Novice Plus Coach
I am a new coach at ACAC. I have always loved the water! I enjoyed being on a swim team when I was younger and swam through high school.
I have been married to my husband for almost 11 years and we have 4 kids together. Our oldest is swimming for ACAC this year and loving it!
I am a stay at home Mom and homeschool our kids. I love being at home with my kiddos, exploring and learning with them. I also own my own residential architecture company which keeps me busy.
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Izzy Forrest Assistant Coach Izzy comes to us in her 2nd year at Iowa State University. Izzy has 13 years of competitive swim experience ranging from club to high school swimming, teaching lessons and coaching at a young age! Izzy is excited to help our kids learn the love of the sport, have fun and work hard! |
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Lydia McClugage Assistant Coach
Lydia comes to ACAC with 12yrs of year round competitive swimming experience 2 of which have been at Iowa State University. Lydia has a diverse background in helping execute and run swim lessons and camps for youth athletes.
Lydia looks forward to helping cultivate and grow our sport of swimming that she has been so passionate about for so long. Lydia has fond memories of what helped shape her from her club experience and looks forward to the opportunity to help shape and grow another generation of youth athletes! She is passionate about creating positive, inclusive environments that allows kids to learn and push themselves!
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| Kaitlynn Wulfekuhle Novice and Novice Plus Lead Coach Hi! My name is Kaitlynn Wulfekuhle, and I’m a teacher at Meeker Elementary School. I swam year-round from the time I was 6 years old all the way through my senior year of high school. Coaching brings back my love for swimming, and I’m passionate about passing that same love for the sport on to young swimmers—just like my coaches did for me. |
