Competitor Coach of the Month: Ron Aitken, Sandpipers of Nevada

Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.

At the U.S. Open Water National Championships this month, the Sandpipers of Nevada had a swimmer finish in the top 5 in every single event.

It was a banner showing for coach Ron Aitken‘s distance-based roster.

That included one national champion (Erica Sullivan in the 10K) and two junior national champions (Katie Grimes in the girls junior 5K and Ilya Kharun in the boys junior 5K). The Sandpipers went 1-2 in both junior 5Ks, with Grimes and Bella Sims sweeping the top two spots for girls and Kharun and Luke Ellis holding up atop the boys event.

In the senior 5K, Sullivan was third, Grimes fourth and Sims fifth among the women. On the men’s side, Dylan Gravley waws third. In the junior 7.5K, Paige Kuwata was second for the girls and Brice Barrieault third for the boys. Meanwhile in the meet’s premier event – the Olympic-distance 10K – Sullivan was first and Grimes fourth among the women and Gravley fifth for the men.

The Sandpipers are projected to have six swimmers on the U.S. roster for 2021 World Juniors. That would be Kuwata, Grimes and Sims for the girls and Gravley, Kharun and Ellis for the boys. With only 12 spots on the entire roster, the Sandpipers could make up half the World Juniors team in open water swimming.

About Competitor Swim

Since 1960, Competitor Swim® has been the leader in the production of racing lanes and other swim products for competitions around the world. Competitor lane lines have been used in countless NCAA Championships, as well as 10 of the past 13 Olympic Games. Molded and assembled using U.S. – made components, Competitor lane lines are durable, easy to set up and are sold through distributors and dealers worldwide.

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