My name is Benjamin Gavin Spake. I am originally from Lexington North Carolina. I was a competitive swimmer from the age of 5 through the age of 21. During my career I won 6 high school state championships and 3 conference team championships with UNCW. In 2011 I began working as an assistant coach for the Cape Fear Aquatic Club(CFAC) at the Wilmington Family YMCA. After 2 years as an assistant at CFAC I was given the head coaching job. In 2016 I accepted a job as the Head Age Group Coach with the Raleigh Swimming Association(RSA) in Raleigh North Carolina. While there I had the opportunity to coach numerous state and sectional champions. I also coached one swimmer to 2 national records as well as being the first 12 & under female swimmer in history to break :54 in the 100 butterfly. I moved back to Wilmington the summer of 2019 to be the pool manager and associate head swim coach at the Country Club of Landfall. I spent a short time back at the Cape Fear Aquatic Club before accepting the Head Coaching job for the Gators. I am happy to be apart of such a great program and I’m excited to watch our team grow.

My name is Ava Schigur. I began swimming at the age of ten in my hometown of Stoughton, Wisconsin. Throughout my journey in the pool, I swam all four years of high school, swam for a couple club teams and continued to the collegiate level at Oberlin College for two years. In 2022, I moved to Southport, North Carolina, and transferred to UNCW where I am a current senior studying Marine Biology.