Manta Rays led by top coach, Johnston

MOSES LAKE - Seeing a need to change an approach to the team's training regimen, Jerry Johnston took over the Moses Lake Manta Rays swimming club with the intent to do just that.

His work saw immediate returns as the program had a solid summer of competition and in turn led to Johnston being named the "Inland Empire Swimming Coach of the Year."

"Being named Coach of the Year, shows that the team is headed in the right direction," Johnston said. "If the other coaches in the Inland Empire noticed the improvement this year, I think it will be more impressive next year after I have had a year to get more acclimated to the swimming here and to my team. It was a great honor and a big surprise."

Johnston may appreciate the recognition personally, but he sees the program's growth amongst the swimmers as the real key to success.

"I knew that some of the coaches were impressed of how a few of our top swimmers were doing- but I did not know they recognized the total team turn around," Johnston said. "I'm not sure even the people in Moses Lake really understand what a great job the swimmers have done this year. When coaches from teams that are five to ten times larger than ours tell us what a great job our kids are doing, it make you feel good about the program. Our next goal is more swimmers to Zones, and aim for nationals."

The program has grown from top to bottom thanks in part to some changes in protocol.

"The biggest turn around of the Moses Lake Swim Team has come in the way we train the swimmers," Johnston said. "We have had a heavy emphasis on stroke technique, kicking and more speed training which has helped make the workouts more interesting and fun. This has helped in building up the numbers of the younger age groups, creating a positive attitude among the team, in both the parents and the swimmers. The team has grown by more than double from when I first began coaching here in September. With the help of my daughter and assistant coach, Kaeli, who works with the newer younger swimmers, we have retained most of the new swimmers. They are all excited about how they are doing and eager to work hard to get better."

Johnston also has a nice stable of athletes to give credit to for the Manta Rays' rise.

"The strengths of the program are the boys 14-15 years old and the boys 7-10 year olds," Johnston said. "Brenden Eslick (aged 15), Kaelan Connacher (15) and Zack Johnston (14) are all top swimmers in the Inland Empire and will be leading the high school team this winter. Most of the new team records were recorded by the 8-and-under boys and 10-year-old Noah Heaps. Zackary Washburn (7), Jackson Fair (8) and Eric Kemper (9) joined Noah on two relays at Champs and were third-place in both despite their young age."

Johnston came to Moses Lake after years of swimming as a youth, setting multiple records in the Northwest, including his days as a member of the University of Washington program where he was a three-time NCAA Division I All-America.

He also qualified for the Olympic Trials in 1976.

Later he took all he know into coaching.

"I began my coaching career right out of college in 1997 for the Issaquah swim team," Johnston said. "I helped begin the Issaquah High School Swim Team in 1981 and took over the team in 1983. The High School Boys had several All-Americans and a couple of three-place finishes at state. The girls had even more All-Americans and after several years placing top three at state, we won state my last three years coaching there from 1988-1990."

He won various coach of the year honors for his exploits, but as his family grew he had to take some time away from the sport to begin a career in appraising real estate in Colorado. He did some odd coaching jobs before starting again on a full-time basins in Taos, N.M. three years ago before moving to Moses Lake.

"I bring over 20 years coaching experience, and have achieved a level four American Swim Coach Association ranking," Johnston said. "Less than eight percent of the coaches in the country have this ranking. I hope to continue to grow our program and bring recognition to our swimmers and to Moses Lake in the future."