Reid Carlson originally hails from Clay Center, Kansas, where he began swimming at age six with the Clay Center Tiger Sharks, a summer league team. At age 14 he began swimming club year-round with the Manhattan Marlins (Manhattan, KS), which took some convincing from his mother as he was very dedicated to his paper route, which he would have to give up to swim year-round–this would be the best decision of his life. Reid was fortunate enough to draw the attention of Kalamazoo College where he went on to swim collegiately. Reid is currently the Head Coach of the Manhattan Marlins as well as the lead Academic Advisor in Kansas State University’s A.Q. Miller School of Media and Communication where he puts his experience as a SwimSwam correspondent to use advising up-and-coming journalists and broadcasters through their undergraduate experience.