Coaches and Directors
Andrew Barranco, Head Coach
Andrew is the Head Coach and founder of Merritt Athletic Swimming as well as the Regional Aquatics Director for Merritt Athletic Clubs. He oversees Merritt Athletic Swimming, swim team. In addition he oversees Merritt’s six aquatic facilities and aquatic staff of over 100 employees. He graduated from Frostburg State University with a B.S degree in Recreation Management. He has coached internationally for the United States Olympic Committee in England, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Japan, China, Greece, and the Netherlands. Before starting MAS in 2004, he was the Head Coach of Pine Ridge Swim Team in 2004 and 2005, an Assistant Coach for Dundalk Eastfield Swim Club for three years, as well as an Assistant Coach for Hillcrest Swim Club. He has been the coach of Jessica Long (2004,2008 Paralympian), winner of the 77th Annual Sullivan Award-Top Amateur Athlete in the Country,2006 Paralympian of the Year and ESPY Award winner.
Recent coaching highlights include:
- Head Coach of the USA Paralympic Swim Team at the 2010 Greek Open Championships
- Named Team Leader of the 2011 Para Pan-Pac Swim Team
- Selected Head Coach of the 2011 Parapan American Games, Paralympic Swim Team
- Awarded 2010 Paralympic Coach of the year by the United States Olympic Committee
Andrew started his competitive swimming career at the age of 6 in Ossining NY. He continued to swim through high school and in college on the Division I team at Towson University. Throughout his career he competed in distance freestyle events and the 400 IM. During his time at Towson University Andrew taught stroke technique to Special Olympic athletes and to children on the Autism spectrum at the Towson Merritt. Since 2018, Andrew has also been teaching private and semiprivate swim lessons at the Towson and Eldersburg locations. He coached the York Manor Swim team in the Freestate Summer league during the summers of 2018 and 2019 and really enjoys getting to know the swimmers and watching them improve in the pool. Andrew hopes to greatly improve all the swimmers he works with and help them enjoy the sport as much as he does.
Towson Assistant Coach
Meaghan comes from Salem, MA where she swam both in high school and Division III College. She started her coaching career wth the Y of the North Shore. Meaghan holds an ungraduated degree from Salem State University, and Masters degree from Northeastern Univerisity. While at SSU, Meaghan captained their swim team for three of her four years on the team. She was a coach for North Shore Swim Club while working on her under graduate, and graduate degrees. Meaghan finished up her time with NSSC in 2014 after a twelve year stint with the team, working her way from swim lesson instructor to facility head coach of 2 of their 6 sites, and running their swim lesson program . Meaghan also the Head Coach for Swampscott High School a local high school swim program for seven years, She moved to Maryland in 2014 to pursue other coaching opportunities bringing her to Merritt in the spring of 2016.
After a 3 year "vacation" in Hawaii, Meaghan is happy to be back in Maryland and Merritt Swimming
Coach Sarah grew up in Harford County, MD and started her competitve swimming journey a 5years old swimming for Joppatowne Tigersharks. In highschool I swam all 4 years, mostly she swam the 500, 400IM, and Backstroke. (way better at distance than sprints) She continuted her competitve career in college and swam for 2 years and Liberty University, after she came home from school she continued teaching swim lessons and lifeguarding. She started working at Merritt Whitemarsh as a Novice Coach and teaching Private Lessons in 2022 then moved to coaching the competitve team in January of 2023 coaching the Rays group. A little about my personal life I have a boyfriend and an 8 year old stepson, 2 german shepherds (which might as well be considered children). Other than swimming, she enjoys being outdoors and spending time with her family and friends.
Coach Mike Kremer joined the Merritt Athletic swim team in 2013 as a coach at the Eldersburg location. Mike began coaching in 1984 while attending graduate school. His swimming experience began at age 5 and continued through college, swimming 4 years at Dartmouth College, where he was co-captain his senior year. While at Dartmouth, he set several school records and qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships. Coach Mike was an assistant coach at RMSC (Rockville, MD) and MAC (Frederick, MD) before becoming head coach at Carroll County YMCA (CCY; Westminster, MD) in 1994. During his 12 years as coach Mike developed and grew the CCY team from 30-40 swimmers to 145 swimmers with numerous YMCA National Qualifiers. In 2006 a new pool was built in Hampstead, MD and Mike formed the Carroll Aquatics Tiger Sharks (CATS) swim team. In 7 years at CATS, many swimmers qualified for State, Sectional, and Junior National (NCSA) swim meets. Since joining the Merritt coaching staff in 2013 his swimmers have continued to qualify for meets at levels including NCSA Futures, Junior Nationals and being named to the USA Swimming High School Scholastic All America Team.
Coach Mike received his bachelor’s and master’s in engineering from Dartmouth College before working for 9 years with IBM. In 1993, Mike left IBM to open a State Farm Insurance Agency in Westminster where he continues to provide life planning, insurance, and financial services for clients.
James is a long-time athletics instructor with a range of competitive coaching experience in swimming, skateboarding, snowboarding, high performance driving, and weightlifting. James has competed in many athletic disciplines over the years, including swimming, USASA snowboard cross, and SCCA autocross, with national ranking season finishes. As an undergrad, James swam with the University of Maryland Club Swim Team and swam for UMAC post-college, specializing in sprint events — 50 Free and 100 Breaststroke. Prior to joining MAS, James was a Swim Team Prep Instructor and private swimming instructor. James is a USA Swimming Certified Coach passionate about sharing the joy of competition through swimming and athletics.
This is Maureen's 12th year as a coach in the Maryland LSC, serving
as both assistant coach and head coach at various clubs. With
a Master's degree in Sports Science and numerous instructor trainer
level Red Cross certifications, Maureen has been working in
aquatics for almost 20 years. Maureen is currently the
Aquatic Manager at the Canton Merritt, and spends her spare time
running, reading, and traveling to visit her six
children.
My Merritt adventure starts in 2004. I was a lifeguard and swim instructor. I swam on the Masters Swim TEam until 2006. For the past 15 years I have been a Baltimore City Teacher. I am excited to be back at Merritt now starting my third season coaching Jr. Marlin and Marlins on Fridays and Saturdays. I enjoy coaching and seeing how the swimmers grow throughout the season. I have had the privilege of coaching Novice at White Marsh for 2 Summers and the Pre-Team in the past at Towson.
Amber Barranco has been coaching and teaching for Merritt Clubs since 2014. She currently lives in carroll county working at the Eldersburg location. She started learning the art of teaching and coaching when she was completing her community service hours for high school at the Y of Central Maryland and for Carroll Aquatics, where she swam in High School. Amber continued swimming through college on the Hood College club team and still enjoys swimming by competing in triathlons. She finished her masters at Hood College in Business. Amber spends her free time outside with her German Shepard and family. One quality she strives for is creating a safe and positive environment for personal development through swimming.
Amy is joining our coaching staff for her second season with Merritt. She received her degree from Salisbury University in Exercise Science. Originally from Bel Air, Amy has been teaching swim lessons and coaching Harford Tech swim for the past 8 years. She’s been with Merritt running the aquatic program at our White Marsh club for two years now. She’s excited to be working with the Marlins and JR Marlins this season, developing technique and pushing swimmers towards personal best times.
Amethyst Tymoch Assistant Coach, Canton
Amethyst Tymoch is excited to be joining Merritt Athletics Club this season. Amethyst (Coach A-) is was the founding coach of HUSH were she spent 10 years as the founding head coach of a 100 member USA Swimming Program. As the head Coach, Amethyst was hands on with all age groups but enjoys age group stroke and race development the most. Coach A- has coached seasonal teams in Carroll County, Montgomery County and Frederick County; summer and high school teams.
Amethyst has an Associates Degree in Education, a BFA in Theatre; Techinical Theater and Theatre for Youth and a double MFA from University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music; Costume Design and Wigs and Make-Up Design. Coach A says she relies on her theater background more than anything to inspire her swimmers.ÿ
Coach Genny is a lifelong swimmer, coaching off and on since 2003. She started out assistant coaching the Ocean Pines Hammerheads in the summer of 2003. From there she went on to become part of the coaching staff at the Mid-Delmarva YMCA in Salisbury while she attended college at Salisbury University. She left coaching to start her career as a teacher for Baltimore city public schools. She then went on to get her Masters in Reading from Towson University and graduated in 2013. She worked as a reading specialist at Campfield Early Learning Center for 8 years, in addition to her time in the classroom. She then became the head coach of The Lochearn Monsters swim team in Randallstown for 6 summers. Most recently, she was one of the assistant coaches for Mariner Swim Club from 2019 to 2022. She now works as a Blueprint Literacy Coach for Baltimore City Public Schools, in addition to coaching swimming part time. Her son, Jonah, is also a swimmer for Merritt. Swimming is a passion she was happy to pass down to her son!
Elizabeth is originally from Baltimore. She holds a bachelors of science degree from the College of Charleston and a master's degree in Nonprofit Management from Notre Dame of Maryland University. Elizabeth has over 30 years of aquatic experience teaching and coaching for a wide variety of people in ages ranging from 2 to 82 with a broad spectrum of ability. Elizabeth is excited to bring her enthusiasm for swimming to the Merritt Manta and Jr. Marlins and hope to help our athletes reach their aquatic goals.
Tana King Assistant Coach, Towson
My name is Tana King and I am new to the Merritt Athletic Swimming team. I coach the Marlin groups. I swam at Towson University my freshman and sophomore years where I was named an Academic All American. Over this past summer I coached for the Springdale Stars, as well as bring an additional nine years of coaching experience at various assistant coach positions in Virginia, where I grew up. I graduated from Towson in 2012 with a degree in Secondary Education-English. I teach 8th grade Language Arts at Stemmers Run Middle School in Essex.
