Coaching Staff
JP Merchant
Competitive Team Head Coach
JP grew up in Southeast Michigan, where he swam summer league with Orchard Valley Swim & Racquet Club; USA Club with Birmingham-Bloomfield Atlantis; and high school swim at Detroit Catholic Central. After high school, he attended John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he studied Economics and Philosophy and continued swimming. While at JCU, he was part of three Conference Championships Teams and served as co-captain for men’s team.
His coaching experience includes learn to swim for Jenrow Swim America, Head Coach for Cleveland Skating Club, Assistant Swim & Dive Coach for Bethany College, Head Age Group Coach and Lead Swim Instructor for Sports Club Swimming, Head Coach and Swim School Director for Sports Club Swimming, Camp Counselor for Wolverine Swim Camp at the University of Michigan. He moved to Wilmington in 2012 and served as the Head Age Group Coach for Waves of Wilmington, Head Coach for the Marsh Oaks Makos, as well as serving on various North Carolina Swimming camp and team staffs. In addition to NSEASwim, he works with the Without Limits Swim programs.
Devin Lessard
Founding Head Coach / Assistant Coach
Devin is a founding member of NSEA Swim and was Head Coach for two years. She helped lead the Cape Fear Aquatic Club swimmers from a 16th place finish in Spring 2017 to a 12th place finish in Spring 2018 at the NC SCY Age Group Championships. She was also the primary coach for the best 9-10-year-old boy swimmer in NC, the best 9-10-year-old boy in the ESSZ sectionals, a swimmer with a top 10 time in 50 Fly in USA Swimming and multiple swimmers with top 5 all-time records in the state. Devin was also Assistant Coach for the Pine Valley Porpoises. Devin's success has not gone unnoticed. She was nominated for North Carolina Age Group Coach of the Year by her peers for her success during the 2017-18 swim season.
Devin grew up being a multi-sport athlete. She started swimming early and at 13 years old, she qualified for Y-Nationals both individually and as part of top 16 relay team. In high school, Devin was named Female swimmer of the year 3 years in a row. In addition to being Captain of the schools' field hockey, swim and girls' lacrosse teams, her senior year swimming was always a special love leading her high school team to a state championship title. She went four years without a loss in individual dual-meet competition, and finished with eight state titles -- four individual, and four relay. In 2014, she was inducted into her high school's sports hall of fame.
Devin holds a level 2 ASCA certification. She also has degrees in Psychology and Public Relations from Susquehanna University. While there, she was named Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year her freshman year and Female Swimmer of the Year both her junior and senior years. Devin capped off her college career year by placing 5th in the 200 fly at the 2013 NCAA Championships and earning an All-American Swimmer title.
In addition to her coaching duties at NSEA Swim, Devin is a Physical Therapy Assistant. Her goal is to be able to provide aquatic therapy to rehabilitate, prevent and maintain the specific needs of swimmers of all ages.
Andy Harrison
Assistant Coach / Founding Assistant Coach
Andy has been coaching swimming for just under 10 years here in Wilmington, NC; having worked with Seahawk Swim School, year-round programs, and the Wilmington Swim League. He has also been Head Coach for the Pine Valley Country Club summer swim program for the past two years.
Coach Andy engaged in many sports growing up and fell in love with the sport of swimming early on. It was this passion that allowed him to be successful throughout his middle- and high-school years. He swam for the UNCW club team during his undergraduate studies, using that time to transition his focus to instruction.
Having received a BS in Exercise Science and a MAT in Health and Physical Education, Coach Andy is a professor in Health Sciences at Cape Fear Community College -- and he is also pursuing a PhD in Health and Human Performance. Andy is currently a USA Swimming Coach and holds a Strength and Conditioning Specialist certification through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
When not on the pool deck, Andy can be found surfing, rock climbing, playing ultimate Frisbee, or hanging out with his wife and three kids.
Mia Honeycut
Assistant Coach / Aquatic Director
Mia grew up in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and started swimming competitively at age 6. Her time in the pool started long before that though, with her mom, aunt, and cousins all being WSI certified lifeguards who made sure that the whole family knew proper stroke technique and how to stay safe around the water. Mia’s first coaching experience was for the same team that she swam for from ages 6-18 - the Woodstock Dolphins. Throughout high school, she worked with the youngest swimmers on the team, teaching them the basic strokes and fundamentals of swimming. She became WSI certified at age 16 and started teaching swimming lessons alongside her mom. This is one of the things that led Mia to find her passion for teaching children - in and out of the water.
After graduating high school, Mia moved to Lynchburg, VA and attended Liberty University, where she received her degree in Early Childhood Education and Family/Child Development. While she did not swim competitively in college, this did not keep her away from the pool for long. Her job as a lifeguard for LU led her to a second job as a lifeguard/swim instructor at the local YMCA, which opened the door to many coaching jobs in the Lynchburg area.
Mia decided to continue her education at Liberty, beginning her master’s in Elementary Education in 2014. During graduate school, Mia spent the school years working as a preschool teacher while also coaching for the Lynchburg Swimming USA team and Jefferson Forest High School, and her summers managing the pool and coaching the swim team at Oakwood Country Club. This was her life for five wonderful years. Her greatest memory of that time was taking the Jefferson Forest High School swim team to win the VA 4A State Title not once, but twice, in 2017 and 2018.
A teaching job brought Mia to Wilmington in the spring of 2019. After three years of not being on the pool deck, something was definitely missing in her life. This is what led her to reach out to the area swim teams to see where she might be needed. Aside from coaching, Mia stays busy teaching kindergarten during the school year and nannying/teaching swim lessons during the summer months.
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