Canyons Aquatic Club Hires Kyle Hastings As Next Head Coach

Canyons Aquatic Club has hired Kyle Hastings as the next head coach of its team based out of Santa Clarita, California. 

Hastings comes to Canyons Aquatic Club from Ransom Everglades Aquatic Club in Miami, where he served as head swim coach and aquatics director. From 2015-18, Hastings worked as head coach of Central Iowa Aquatics, where he coached several athletes who achieved Olympic Trial cuts, earned scholarships to Division I schools, or posted top-10 times in the nation. Among his former standout swimmers are Cal’s Trent Frandson, Minnesota’s Cameron Linder, and the Kentucky duo of Gillian Davey and Emily Baeth. Before his tenure in Des Moines, he was assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Indiana. 

“I believe in helping athletes achieve a high level of self-confidence while building a positive team culture,” said Hastings, who earned his bachelor’s degree at West Virginia Wesleyan and his master’s at the University of Maryland. “We will be a process-oriented team, focused on building a supportive environment, centered around personal and athletic excellence.”

Canyons Aquatic Club boasts several notable alumni, including Olympic gold medalists Anthony Ervin and Abbey Weitzeil. A 2022 Bronze Medal Club, the organization recently sent five swimmers to Sectionals in March. In 2020, Canyons Aquatic Club sent nine swimmers to the Junior National Championships and owned the top 400-medley relay time in the country for the 17-18 age group. 

“We are extremely excited and fortunate to have Kyle Hastings join our club as head coach,” Canyons Board President Scott Blietz said. “He brings an outstanding coaching skill set to Canyons Aquatic Club that will build on our rich past and lead us into the future to new and even greater heights. Kyle has the perfect balance of club and collegiate coaching experience paired with patience and wisdom that will greatly help all of our Canyons swimmers to reach their potential and achieve their dreams. We look forward to Kyle’s leadership of our club for many years to come.”

Hastings takes over for Kevin Nielsen, a Cal alum who stepped away last fall after two years at the helm of the program. Since then, Sean Kakumu has been the interim head coach. Nielsen had taken the head coaching role in 2019 amid turmoil within the program as former head coach David Kuck sued the Canyons Aquatic Club alleging wrongful termination and whistleblower retaliation for reporting child abuse by another coach, Jeremy Anderson, who died shortly after being captured in Costa Rica.