Welcome Coaches Ananya and Mariko!

We have two new coaches to welcome to the Chinook family! Ananya Kumar will be the site lead in Renton assisted by Mariko Buchanan. We are so excited to have you on our team! 

Ananya - I started swimming competitively at eight years old in Southern California on the Mission Viejo Nadadores. I loved racing the 100 breaststroke and 500 free. I swam through high school on my varsity team, and decided to end my swimming career my senior year. I started age group coaching during college in San Diego, and loved every second of it, until the pandemic hit and my career came to a pause. My coaching philosophy is simple, I want to create a fun and safe environment that my swimmers can thrive in, and in turn be successful in their swimming careers! I am super excited to continue my coaching career here in Washington on this amazing team!

Mariko - I started swimming competitively at eight years old swimming for the Fairwood Barracudas. I also swam varsity for 4 years at Kentridge High School while also being a captain my senior year. I loved swimming the 100 fly and 100 free. I started teaching swim lessons during my sophomore year of high school and quickly learned that I loved to pass my knowledge of swim onto others! I've coached for the WAC swim team and have also helped coaching swim camps for Fairwood. I currently attend Bellevue College and hope to transfer into a nursing program next fall! I am very passionate about helping swimmers become better each day and want to create a fun environment for everyone while they develop their skills!