The Woodlands Swim Team (TWST) is pleased to announce the addition of two highly experienced swim coaches to their already accomplished coaching staff. Kit Raulerson joins The Woodlands Swim Team as the new Head Coach, while Greg Davis will serve as the organization’s new Associate Head Coach.
“We are pleased to welcome both Kit and Greg into the TWST family,” said Frank Blanchard, TWST Board President. “It was an opportunity to add unique skill sets to our already talented coaching staff, and strengthen the program. We have a rich history and are excited to see the continuation of winning traditions both in and out of the pool.”
Kit Raulerson, along with his wife and two children, comes to The Woodlands having coached at both the Club and Collegiate levels and will assume responsibilities over the breadth of the TWST program, including club development. Raulerson has produced numerous National Age Group Top-10/Top-16 performances, TAGS Champions, Olympic Trial semi-finalists, NCAA scoring athletes and a US Paralympian.
“It’s an honor to join a storied program of such regional and national achievement. I look forward to maintaining and enhancing the high standards that define TWST,” said Kit Raulerson. “I’m excited to get to know the athletes, families and staff. I hope everyone has a fantastic end-of-summer season and begins to prepare for next year.”
Kit Raulerson is joined by Greg Davis on The Woodlands Swim Team coaching staff. Davis will be moving from Mobile, Alabama, accompanied by his wife and children, to serve as TWST’s Associate Head Coach. He will be responsible for the senior and age group coaching staff. Davis has been around competitive swimming his entire life; his mother was an Olympic Trials qualifier, and his father is an ASCA Level 5 coach. As a result, he has dedicated his professional life to swimming and making an impact on young adult lives.
“I’m extremely excited about joining the Woodlands Swim Team and working to continue the great history and success they have achieved up to this point,” said Greg Davis. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to work with a quality staff in maintaining and developing TWST into one of the premier swim clubs in the country.”
About Kit Raulerson
Kit Raulerson
Raulerson’s recent Club experience was as the head coach of the Raleigh Swimming Association (RSA). During his time there, RSA was a USA-Swimming Club Excellence Gold and Silver team every year, plus RSA won the LSC 14&Under Championship in 2011, becoming the first team to de-throne SWIMMAC Carolina since the mid 1990’s. RSA also won the LSC Senior Championships meet twice, and the Club grew from 250 to over 400 athletes under Raulerson’s leadership. He was an active member of the LSC, serving on the Board as Coaches Chair.
RSA was one of a handful of teams in the country to produce three or more 18&Under Olympic Trial qualifiers in both 2008 and 2016. In 2008, Raulerson’s athletes swam to 88 percent best times at the US Olympic Trials, highlighted by Sarah Henry jumping from a 56th seed in the 200 breast stroke all the way into the semi-finals and a 13th place finish. Sarah made multiple National Junior teams in high school and then attended Texas A&M, where she was a multiple-time All-American capping her collegiate career with a 2015 NCAA title in the 400im. She was also a 2015 World University Games medalist. Four years later, Raulerson’s athletes were 80 percent best time at the US Trials, highlighted by a more dramatic jump by Hannah Moore from 115th seed to 12th in the 200 backstroke. Hannah is currently a rising senior at NC State University, a multiple-time All-American performer and finished third in the 800 at this week’s World Championship Trials.
“Kit’s approach and philosophy guides athletes towards long-term development and his athletes have consistently shown improvement in college,” added Blanchard, TWST Board President. “In fact, in 2011 and 2015, Kit had four former athletes qualify for NCAA Championships.”
Prior to his time in Raleigh, Raulerson was an assistant coach at Circle C Swimming under Randy Reese and then Associate Head Coach at Longhorn Aquatics in Austin, Texas. Kit worked with athletes of all ages in Austin. He grew Longhorn Aquatics, a team known for its strong senior program, into a team that included a well-rounded age group program, culminating with a TAGS Championship in 2006. Eventual Olympians Garret Weber-Gale and Scott Spann were Longhorn products, along with numerous Texas High School State Champions and National team members. Longhorn was the inaugural winner of USA-Swimming’s Club Excellence program and remained Gold every year that Raulerson was in Austin.
Raulerson’s collegiate coaching experience included a position as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech from 2000-2002. The Tech men’s team had never finished higher than sixth place prior to his arrival, and they finished third in 2001 and second in 2002 at the ACC Championships. Raulerson produced the program’s first NCAA qualifiers in over fourteen years, and Tech was Top-25 at NCAA’s both years.
From 1998-2000, Raulerson was a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Michigan under Hall-of-Fame coach Jon Urbanchek. Those years included a Big-10 Championship in 2000, Tom Malchow’s World Record 200 fly and subsequent Gold medal in the event, and Chris Thompson’s bronze in the 1500.
About Greg Davis
Greg Davis
In 2007, Davis assumed the role of Head Age Group Coach at City of Mobile Swim Association (CMSA) and immediately had an impact developing Southeastern Champions, Age Group Sectional Finalists and numerous USA Swimming Top 10 Times. Davis then took over as the Head Swim Coach/CEO of CMSA in 2009. Beginning in 2007, CMSA was awarded six consecutive Bronze Medal Club Awards from USA Swimming’s Club Excellence Program, recognizing CMSA as one of the top 200 swim clubs in the country.
Under Davis’s leadership, CMSA established and maintained itself as one of the premier programs in the Southern United States. In fact, with only approximately 100 swimmers in the program, seven were sent to the 2016 Olympic Trials, the largest in club history. Included in those seven swimmers was seventh place 100 fly competitor Will Glass, who now swims for the University of Texas. That same year, CMSA was named a USA Swimming Silver Medal Team, ranking it as one of the top 100 programs in the country for the fourth consecutive year.
“Under Greg’s guidance, CMSA athletes have been selected to attend numerous training camps, such as the USA Swimming’s National Junior Team Camp, National Select Camp, Zone Select Camp and Diversity Select Camp,” said Blanchard, TWST Board President. “We are confident that he will bring this kind of growth, success and opportunity to the young athletes of TWST.”
Davis was voted the Southeastern Swimming Senior Coach of the Year in 2012 and has served on the Southeastern Swimming Board of Directors as the Senior-Vice Chair since 2011. He is certified by the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) as a Level 5 Coach. Throughout his career, Davis has developed USA Swimming National Champions, over 75 NAG Top 10 Times, as well as Olympic Trials Qualifiers, Senior & Junior National Qualifiers, Junior National Champions, LSC Champions, LSC Individual & Relay Record Holders, USA Swimming Scholastic All-Americans, High School State Champions, NISCA High School All- Americans, along with USA Swimming Open Water National Qualifiers.
Davis was named to the National Junior Team Coaches list for 2015-16 and also served on the 2016 National Junior Team Camp Coaching Staff. He was recognized by ASCA as a Coach of Excellence in 2014 for his work with CMSA. Davis served on the USA Swimming National Select Camp Coaching Staff in 2012, which was held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 2011, he also served on the USA Swimming Southern Zone Select Camp Coaching Staff, held at the University of Louisville.
Under Raulerson and Davis, athletes have taken official collegiate visits to colleges around the country, including: Stanford, Southern California, Texas, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Auburn, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Penn State, Minnesota, Utah, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Maryland, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Virginia, US Naval Academy, US Air Force Academy, Georgia Tech and more.
About The Woodlands Swim Team
The Woodlands Swim Team (TWST) is a USA Swimming Silver Medal program that has achieved Level 4 Club Recognition. It originally began in 1975 under the leadership of The Woodlands Township, but is now a member run organization with a volunteer parent board that has won 39 TAGS (Texas Age Group Swimming) state championships. TWST boasts a 300+ roster, including State, Sectional, Junior National, National and Olympic Trials qualifiers. TWST swimmers competing at a National level have included: Michael McBroom, Kelsey Amundsen and Gray Umbach.
The team swims at the Conroe ISD Natatorium, a state-of-the-art aquatic center. Additionally, TWST enjoys a family culture rich in tradition that includes coaches and volunteer parent committees working towards the success of the athletes in a competitive and encouraging environment. To learn more about TWST, visit www.itwst.org.
Press Release courtesy of The Woodlands Swim Team.
The new coaches have their work cut out for them. A majority of the Wooodlands national team left seeking refuge from the chaos of a unstable environment. When they lost Tim Bauer, one the most trusted & experienced coaches in the country, all signs of leadership in the organization disappeared. It’s going to be several years before we see the Woodland emerge from this mess.
Are you kidding me? You might want to check your facts…most of those senior swimmers before Coach Bauer’s departure…wonder why. This once great program is back on track with two exceptional hires….won’t be long before the woodlands resumes its winning ways. Watch out for this team.
While I truly wish the new coaches well, things do appear to be a “Texas sized mess” for a team I loved for so long. First, whoever wrote this article from TWST should have stopped with talking about the new hires since they certainly know little about the history of TWST. It is impossible to talk about TWST’s history without talking about the coach that led this team and gave it the heart and soul that made us all so prpud. John Vogel is an icon and without him there was no TWST tradition. As for Tim Bauer, I know first hand of his integrity and love of the sport and those of us who trusted him with our children… Read more »
Sorry for the typos….but you get the point agree or not.
Two great hires to join a staff that already includes Ken Grey & Shawn Squires, TWST is going to be sick fast!