Monika has been swimming competitively since the age of 5. She swam for the Rosary Beads in high school and attended and swam for Loras College in Dubuque IA. At Loras she set 8 school records and was team captain her junior and senior year. Monika was voted Iowa Small College MVP her senior year. Currently she is the head coach at Rolling Meadows High School for both men and women. She began her coaching at RMHS in 1998. She has coached Olympic Trials qualifiers, National Age Group record holders, IHSA State medalists, USA Swimming Senior State qualifiers, medalists and Champions, Junior National Qualifiers, Central Zone qualifiers, medalists and Champions as well as dozens of Regional and Age Group State qualifiers, medalists and Champions. Monika has been awarded both IHSA Sectional and IHSA Coach of the year honors. She is an ASCA Level 3 Coach.

Monika has her Masters in School Social Work from Aurora University, is a LSW and holds an Illinois Type 73 Certificate. When not coaching, she is a School Social Worker for a private school in Addison, IL. 

Poncho has been involved with competitive swimming for over 12 years as an athlete and 8 years as a coach.  He competed with the Lattof Neptune Swim Team for 11 years and was a four year varsity swimmer for Prospect High School from 1995-1999.  Poncho was part of two school record setting relays and three state qualifying relays during his high school career, culminating in a 10th place state finish in the 200 Free Relay in 1998.  Poncho is currently the head coach of Prospect High School Swimming and Diving the last 7 years, during which they have set 4 school swimming records and 4 school diving records, produced 5 state swimming qualifiers and 6 state diving qualifiers and have won 4 MSL East titles between the two programs.  As a coach he strives to help athletes find the joy in competitive swimming, while challenging them to reach for their goals and become students of the sport.

Aaron has an incredible wealth of knowledge of this sport. He swam at St. Charles High School, where he qualified for the high school state meet three years. Aaron competed for three high school state-winning teams and co-captained the 1983 state championship team. He specialized in distance swimming. Aaron placed second at the Illinois high school state meet twice, both in the 500 free, and was third in the 200 free. He swam all four years at The University of Wisconsin and won the Big Ten championships in the 500 and 1,650 free, raced in U.S. Senior Nationals, Olympic Trials and NCAA championships. In addition, he was on-deck as a graduate assistant coach at Wisconsin. He remains active in the sport participating in 5K open water racing. After a long career as the Daily Herald's high school sports editor, coach Aaron currently works for Myrtha Pools.

Kari joined the coaching staff in 2016. Finding the love of the water and swimming at a very young age, she went on to race for over 12 years. During this time, she competed for Rolling Meadows High School’s varsity team all four years under Coach Monika's leadership. Kari and the team set school records and were the MSL East Conference Champions for two of her seasons. She was also the team’s Co-Captain. With club swimming, Kari competed at State and the Speedo Sectionals level meets. She attended summer camps at Northwestern, Stanford, and the Naval Academy to increase her knowledge of the sport, develop her strengths, and improve her conditioning.  Along with swimming, Kari was also a four-year varsity water polo player at RMHS, being named to multiple All-Tournament, All-Conference, and All-Sectional teams. 

Kari's involvement with swimming expanded in 2022, by becoming the Disability Lead for Illinois Swimming's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and is involved in USA Swimming's inaugural Women in Governance program. 

Coach Jim has been swimming competitively since the age of 8. He has swum for many local teams as an age grouper, senior, and master. Jim swam for Fremd where he contributed to two state-winning teams (1994,1995) in freestyle and captained the 1995 state championship team. Jim held several records at Fremd which he was excited to see fall as his alma mater continued in swimming excellence. He attended and swam for University of Iowa and competed in three Big Ten Championships. While swimming at Iowa, Jim earned his bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. Through his swimming career, Jim has had the opportunity to train with several well renowned coaches and many diverse international athletes. Jim attributes his swimming success to being exposed to different philosophies and approaches to the sport. He loves to continue to learn and looks forward to sharing his knowledge with our athletes. When not coaching, Jim helps Nokia bring groundbreaking telecom network products to market and can be found cheering on his two teenage daughters in their sports and activities.

Nick started swimming from 6 years old, he was the first athlete to join Reach Aquatics and swam with the club throughout his high school and college swimming career. In high school he was a three year IHSA state qualifier, IHSA medalist and still holds the team record for the 50 free at Fremd as well as competing in Junior Nationals twice. Nick continued his sprinting career at Carthage College going to D3 Senior Nationals his sophomore year. Following Carthage Nick made the transition into the coaching world with Reach and has been an assistant Fremd Boys coach as well as a Conant Girls coach. He is currently a Pool Teachers Assistant at Hoffman Estates High School and is a licensed teacher in Physical Education, Health, and Consumer Science. --

Coach Andrew was a four-year varsity swimmer at Prospect High School. He was Team Captain and All Conference in 2013. Andrew continued this swimming career to Illinois Wesleyan where he was a 4-year varsity letter receiver as well. His coaching career began in the Arlington Heights Park District where he coached the Stingray and Sharks. He would later become an Interpark Coordinator in charge of all six of the Arlington Heights Park District teams. At Illinois Wesleyan, Andrew coached the Funky Fish Swim club under his coach Teresa Fish. Andrew is excited for a great season and bringing his middle-distance knowledge to our athletes!

Heather has been involved with competitive swimming for over 25 years as an athlete and 12 years as a coach. She swam for the Lattof Neptunes and was a competitive synchronized swimmer since the age of 6. She was a 4-year Varsity swimmer for the Maine West Warriors from 2001-2004. At Maine West, she set 4 varsity records and was a state qualifier in the 100 Back. She was a 3-time YMCA State Champion and a 3-time YMCA National Qualifier. She signed to swim Division I at Valparaiso University where she continued swimming through her freshman year. She was awarded All-Conference and All-Conference Academic Athlete.  After an injury, she decided to leave the team and join the Valparaiso University Dance Ensemble. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and Creative Writing with a minor in Dance. After college, she competed for the AquaSprites Masters Synchronized Swimming team where she went on to win 3 national titles and one international title. Heather has also been swimming competitively for the Lattof Masters. She most recently took 7th and 9th at the Pan American Masters Championship in the 50 and 100 back. 

After years of teaching swim lessons, she began her swim coaching career in 2007 as the Head Coach of the Des Plaines Ducks.  After getting her Masters in Teaching, she began coaching the Maine South Hawks in 2012 where she continues as the Assistant Coach of girls swimming and Head Coach of girls water polo. She also volunteers as an Assistant Coach for the Prospect Boys Swim Team. She has coached 2 IHSA State Champions, countless state qualifiers and an All-American swimmer. When she isn’t coaching, she is a full-time mom of 4.

Audrey has competitively swam for over 10 years. She began her journey on the Arlington Heights Park District swim, the Arlington Muskies, where she swam year round for over 7 years. She continued her swimming career at Rolling Meadows High School under Coach Monika as a four year varsity swimmer and captain her senior year. Despite suffering a shoulder injury her sophomore year of high school, she continued to swim for the team and compete at Conference and Sectionals meets throughout the rest of her seasons. During the summers of 2021 and 2022, she worked at the Nelson Sports Complex lifeguarding Reach practices, teaching and coordinating swim lessons, and running the role as Head Coach for the Rolling Meadows Rapids Inner Park District Swim Team for their 2022 season. Alongside her dedication to the sport of swimming, Audrey dedicated much of her time to music throughout her years at RMHS as well. She was a part of the symphonic band, marching band, pit orchestra, orchestra winds, multiple jazz bands, District 214 Honors ensembles, and was selected for both ILMEA District 7 Concert Band and Jazz Band for three years in a row. She was the 2023 recipient of the Director’s Award for Band and the National Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. Outside of RMHS, Audrey continues to play as a member of the Arlington Heights Community Concert Band. She plans to attend Harper College to study Biomedical Engineering and eventually transfer to a four year university of her choice to continue her degree.