Head Coach

Senior 1 & Senior 2 Coach

Grace Erkeneff

Coach Grace has been swimming since she was 7 years old and has been coaching for almost 16 years.  Grace comes from a military family and has lived in many different places until her father retired from the Air Force and settled here in the area.  She graduated from Vanden High School where she was an avid tennis player since they had no swim team during her time there. 

Coach Grace joined the Vacaville Swim Club coaching staff in 2008.  She started off coaching the team's Novice Group, today known as the Intro to Swim Group. As she became more and more familiar with the team and its Age Group Program, she was approached to be an Age Group Coach for the year round team after being with the team for three years. Once she moved to coaching the year round time, she started with Gold and Junior 2 groups where she coached swimmers to become JO qualifiers, JO finalists and Far Western qualifiers. After coaching the 9-12 year old swimmers, she began coaching the Varsity group. She then transitioned to coaching the Silver 1 and Silver 2 groups along with coaching Noon Masters. Then was asked to coach the younger athletes (12 and unders) while still coaching Noon Masters.
 
She stepped away from the team for two and half years, during her time she was away she was still coaching. She has now since returned to the team as the team's Head Coach. 
 
Outside of the pool; she is enjoys spending time at Lagoon Valley playing disc golf with her husband (Logan), son (Leeland) and furbaby (Breeze). When not playing disc golf, she can be found spending time with her family and friends. 
 
 
 
Age Group 1 Coach
 
Clinton Free
 
Clinton swam at Winters High School and preferred the 50 and 100 free along with the IM events. He has been coaching since he was 18 years old and has been coaching since. He specializes in fine tuning our swimmers' technique in all strokes. Clinton has coached many athletes and they had earned time standards in order to attend the LSC Champs Meets, SWAGR and Far Westerns.  He also coached the team's Masters programs in the past too.

Away from the pool deck, he enjoys hiking and camping with his wife, new baby girl and dogs, Olive and Jane. 

 

Senior Prep Coach & Masters Coach

Rachel Lee

Coach Rachel has enjoyed being in and around the pool her whole life. After completing swim lessons at age six she joined VACA where she swam competitively for 13 years. In high school she began working in aquatics as a lifeguard/swim instructor/lifeguard instructor. She has since continued to work in the field. Coach Rachel enjoys working with athletes no matter where they are in their swimming career.

When not on deck Coach Rachel can be found with her two furbabies or with family and friends

 

Age Group 2 & Discovery 1 Coach

Emma Wilhite

Emma swam competitively for our the Vacaville Swim Team as a club athlete at the age of 12. Throughout her time as an age group swimmer she specialized in butterfly. She started coaching for the team as a Summer League Coach at 18 then became a Coach on our year round team since. She coached several athletes and has taken many to the LSC Champs Meets. 

Emma is currently enrolled at Solano Community College and working towards a career in dentistry.

In her downtime, she swims with our Masters Program and currently competes in USMS Swim Meets. When not on the pool deck she spends time with her family and friends at their family cabin.

 

Age Group 3 & Discover 2 Coach

Tiare Holokahi

Coach Tiare (Coach T) has been a part of the Vacaville Waves since 2012. She started swimming and competing in the age group program at age seven and continued up until her junior year of high school. In her senior year of highschool, she was given the opportunity to volunteer as a junior coach on the team and since then she has been officially a part of our coaching staff. She hopes to not only develop young swimmers’ techniques, but to provide a positive environment just how her coaches had done for her. 

 

Discovery 3 & Intro to Swim Team Coach

Jayden Kifer

Jayden has been engaged in competitive swimming for the past decade as an Age Group swimmer with the Vacaville Swim Club. For the past three years he been a swim instructor for the City of Vacaville along with coaching the team's Intro to Swim Team group and the Vacaville Swim Club's Summer League program. Before becoming a Coach on our year round Staff,  he was a Junior Coach for the team and has really grown as a Coach and a valued mentor to the athletes on the team. 

He is currently enrolled at Napa Valley Junior College and plans on pursuing a career in accounting while continuing to compete in swimming throughout his time there.

In Jayden's spare time, enjoys playing golf with his dad and playing basketball with friends. His other interests include being an avid LA Rams fan and discussing all things football. 

 

Masters Coach

Toni Batzer

Coach Toni is a dedicated Masters swimmer and part-time coach for VACA. She has been swimming since 10 years old and had played water polo in high school and college. She thoroughly enjoys being on deck and serving the community, and she strives to create a healthy environment to learn and grow in the sport of swimming. She is a mom to two kids, Brooklyn and Davis, who are also age group swimmers on VACA. Our Masters program has consistently had a strong following, and it makes her proud to be a part of this team.
 
If she not on deck or in the water, you can find her in the gym, or working from home under her full-time job as an insurance underwriter. 
 
Certifications: USMS Level 3, USA Swimming Certified Age Group Coach, ASCA Level 3, Strength and Conditioning Coach Certified (ASCA SCCC), ALTS Instructor, Lifeguard Certified
 
 
Masters Coach
 
Jamie Fussell
 
Coach Jamie has been swimming since the age of 9.  She started her swimming career with the summer program through the City of Vacaville.  She joined the Waves age group in 2005 when she decided to give the Vacaville High School swim team a try.  After graduating from high school in 2009, Jamie became a Masters swimmer and has been with the team ever since.  After earning a degree in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from UC Davis, Jamie joined the Waves coaching staff taking over the Red and White groups.  A short while later she was offered a full time position with Solano County as a Park Ranger Assistant.  She was sad to leave the Red and White groups, but remained a part of the coaching staff in taking over the Saturday morning Masters group.

 

You can find Coach Jamie on the pool deck almost every Saturday morning, rain or shine.  She is an avid Masters swimmer and enjoys open water events most of all.  In her spare time Jamie can be found running her dog, Wrangler, or working outdoors.

 

 

Masters Coach

 

Mark Frazier

Mark has participated and encouraged athletics/fitness since he first joined a swim team in Puerto Rico when he was five years old. He competed in both swimming and water polo through high school and college. He still enjoy swimming regularly with our Masters swim team.


His goals in coaching are to provide (1) an encouraging atmosphere, (2) direct feedback on stroke technique, (3) a rigorous workout, and (4) to promote a life-long passion for swimming (whether for fitness or competition). He has also enjoyed competing in local triathlons and working with athletes on perfecting their freestyle strokes for triathlon competitions. More recently, in partnership with the City of Vacaville, we have implemented the Adult Learn to Swim Program (ALTS).

He started coaching swimming and water polo while in college and over the years have coached in the following places/levels: Merced Swim Club, Woodland Swim Club, Davis Masters Swim Club, Will C. Wood High School, and the Vacaville Swim Club. Swimming is a sport that we can all learn starting at a very young age. It is an essential skill for personal safety and it has been rewarding to learn, teach, and coach. Swimming is an activity
we can all enjoy and participate in throughout our lifetime.

 

Masters Coach

Kayla Freed

Kayla was given the opportunity to work for Winters Warriors Swim Team and became a swimming instructor. During this time, she learned so much about swimming but also found that she really loved the sport too and wanted to more involved. She has joined the Masters Swim Program at Vacaville currently coaches the evening Masters Program.

 

During the school year, she is a Special Education Teacher for 4th-6th grade for the Vacaville Unified School District. She is going on my third year of teaching at Alamo Elementary School and have started her 6th year overall of teaching. When Kayla is not teaching she loves being outdoors. From camping and kayaking all the way to tending to her small garden at home. 

 

She currently has two dogs that join Coach Clinton and her on all of our outdoor adventures. And yes they go kayaking with them. She is very honored and excited to be a part of Vacaville Swim.

 

 

Parent Board Members

 

President-Becky Craig

 

Vice President-Will Lightfoot

 

Secretary-Jenni Martinez

 

Treasurer-Bevan Lewis

 

Age Group Rep-Lou Cabral

 

Age Group Rep-Nicole Finger

 

Age Group Rep-Nick Brady

 

Masters Rep-Dave Stewart