Coaching Staff

Lin Kostelny - Head Diving Coach

• Swam and dove competitively
• Coached since 1966
• Has been with Methacton High School since 1982
• Has been with MAC for 20+ years

Dana Hazard - Head Swimming Coach

I am an ASCA Level II certified coach and pride myself on being up to date with all new techniques. I've been coaching USS level swimmers for the passed three years and I have had much success in helping them achieve their goals. I am here to help children reach their fullest potential in a positive environment. I have a true passion for swimming and want swimming to be a positive experience for all my swimmers.

I started off swimming locally in both a summer league and the Suburban Aquatics League. At the age of 10, I won both of my individual events in my summer league's championships. That was the moment when I decided that I wanted to go the Olympics. After several years of begging my parents to train at a USS swim team, finally they agreed. I then went on to competed nationally. At the height of my swimming career I was ranked in the 10 in the whole United States for high school swimmers and I was ranked in the top 40 for all swimmers in the United States.

I am excited to start my first year as Head Swimming Coach of the Methacton Aquatic Club. I come with a lot of experience and a great coaching philosophy. I believe in great technique, hard work, commitment, positive reinforcement, team work and fun. I am looking forward to a great season.

Julie Hafner - Assistant Coach

I started swimming when I was 8 years old for the Lansdale swim team in the summer and for NPAC in the winters. I played water polo and swam for North Penn High school from 1996-2000 and after high school I went on to swim for Gettysburg College. I graduated from college in 2004 with my Bachelors of Science degree in Biology and then from Thomas Jefferson University in 2006 with my Masters of Science degree in Microbiology. I am currently working at a small pharmaceutical company in Doylestown, Immunotope, Inc., where we do research on cancer and infectious diseases.

From the time I was 15, I have been teaching swim lessons to all ages at both North Penn and Manufacturer's Golf and Country Club, where I was also a lifeguard or manager for 6 years. After being away from the pool for a little while, I returned to help Dawn with the North Penn YMCA team two years ago, and have been an assistant coach for MAC since we came back two years ago.

I really feel that swimming helped shape the person I am today - giving me a strong work ethic, an ability to work well with and get along with others, the desire to set and reach goals and a drive to succeed and I look forward to passing on all the things I learned to the next wave of swimmers.

Kim Sykes - Assistant Coach

Swimming is something I have always loved to do. I was a competitive swimmer since the age of 5. I first was at Penbryn pool in Abington. Then I swam for the Abington Dolphins during the winter months. I continued swimming through my high school years at Abington High School and just enjoyed every minute of it. Throughout high school and my college summers, I was a lifeguard and swim coach at North Hills Country Club. At that time I was also a swimmer on the Huntingdon Valley Country Club team. Now my children both swim there. Before I had my children, I was a coach at Abington Dolphins for three years, specifically working with the younger swimmers.

One of the best things about swimming is the fact that it is a team sport, while also being an individual sport. Racing against the clock and doing a best time is a great accomplishment, no matter what place you finished in the race. In my many years of swimming and coaching, the most fun I have had is watching the kids I coached, and my own children, succeed! I look forward to that this year with MAC!

I graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida with a degree in Elementary Education. Currently I am the Director and Pre-K teacher of Methacton Mennonite Preschool. I have been teaching there for 5 years. My husband, Steve, and I have been married for 16 years and we have two girls, Becca 13, and Emily 10. They are both swimmers at MAC.

Colleen Good - Assistant Coach

I started swimming when I was six with the Lansdale swim team. After that I continued through high school with summer swimming and also winter swimming with the YMCA and North Penn Aquatic Club. I graduated from North Penn in 2002 and during my 4 years of high school I played water polo and swam. I went to Ithaca College in NY where I joined the crew team. For my 4 years of my undergraduate degree I had the opportunity to race throughout the northeast, spring break in Georgia for training at the site of the 1996 Olympics, and travel to California for NCAA's where we won the Division III team championship. I spent summers during high school and college teaching group and private swim lessons. I also helped run swim meets and coach the Manufacturers' Golf and Country Club swim team when they needed extra help.

Amanda "Mandi" Carroll - Assistant Coach

Coaching Experience:
This will be my first year as a MAC Coach. Last year, I was an assistant coach for the Perkiomen Valley Aquatic Club. During the 2006-2007 swim season, I was an assistant coach at Plymouth Whitemarsh Aquatic Club. I was a head coach at the Variety Club from 2006-2008 for swimmers with physical disabilities. Moreover, I coached at Markley Farms Swim and Tennis club for nine swim seasons.

Personal:
I grew up in Trooper, PA and started swimming at the age of 5 at General Washington Swim Club. During the summers (1990-2002), I swam for Markley Farms Swim and Tennis Club. I then swam for Methacton Swim Club from 1991 through 1999. I swam for Methacton High School in 1999. In 2000, I transferred to Norristown, where I swam for Norristown Area High School and Norristown Area Aquatic Club until 2002 when I graduated. While swimming for MAC and NAAC, I trained at Germantown Academy. After graduating from Norristown Area High School in 2002, I continued my swimming career at Albright College in Reading, PA. I graduated from Albright College in 2006 with a degree in Sociology with a concentration in Family Studies. And in 2007, I graduated from Albright College with a degree in Elementary Education, Special Education, and Early Childhood Education. I am currently working on my masters at East Stroudsburg University. This upcoming school year I will be starting my first year at Boyertown Area School District where I will be a special education teacher at Boyertown Area Senior High School.

Achievements:
During college, I was a Middle Atlantic Conference champion in the 100 and 200 fly, and was on the undefeated 200 and 400 medley relays where I swim fly. During my freshman year in college, I received the "Most Outstanding Freshman" award from the Middle Atlantic Conference. I held both pool and school records at Albright College in the 100 and 200 fly. Moreover, I held the 100 fly record for the Middle Atlantic Conference during 2003. During high school, I was a four time PIAA District Qualifier in butterfly, a three time PIAA District Qualifier in 500 free, and a onetime PIAA District Qualifier in 100 backstroke. I was a member of four PIAA District Qualifying medley relays (one at Methacton and three at Norristown) where I swam butterfly. Moreover, I was a member of four PIAA District Qualifying 200 freestyle relays (one at Methacton and three at Norristown). I was also a member of the State Qualifying medley relay for Methacton High School in 1999, where I swam butterfly. Additionally, I qualified for states in 2002 in the 100 butterfly. Throughout age group swimming, I qualified for both Summer and Winter Junior Olympics in various swimming events. While swimming at Methacton and Norristown Aquatic Club, I held numerous records, some of which are still standing today. This past swim season I swam for Perkiomen Valley Masters Swim Team, where I had the opportunity to participate in master swim meets. Lastly, throughout my entire swimming career and to this day I have continued to enjoy participating in open water events, including both ocean and bay swims.

Philosophy of Coaching:
My goal this year is to make swimming fun and to help to develop well-rounded swimmers! I believe in working hard, working on technique, and the dedication to the sport. My approach is simple, I am very personal and I enjoy developing long-lasting relationships with my swimmers. Overall, I am excited to be a part of the MAC coaching team and I can.t wait to share my love of swimming with others

Haydon Wyatt - Assistant Coach

I am one of ten children. All my other brothers and sisters had their talents and skills, but I had none. I started swimming my freshman year of high school. Swimming was the first and only thing that accepted me besides soccer. I had played soccer for about 10 years before I found swimming. It was through my history teacher, Mr. Nesensohn, that I found the soon-to-be sport I love. I started out swimming the 50 free and 500 free because my coach believed I was, or I soon would, be a distance swimmer.

For the first two years of swimming, I didn't care about what times I got or the meets; it was a social event for me. I learned a valuable lesson during those times when I was threatened to be kicked off the team by both my parents and my coaches. That was when I saw my true potential; the potential every swimmer has. It's just a matter of how much effort that person wants to put in, to obtain their true potential.

JUNIOR YEAR:
It was junior year of High school when I realized that. I immediately showed up to practice every day 10 minutes early and would not skip a lap. I wound up dropping almost a full 9 seconds of my sophomore time in a matter of weeks, in the beginning of season. I made districts my junior years but unfortunately my relay and I missed states by .02 seconds.

SENIOR YEAR:
This was my year. After speaking with my coach and setting my goal of making districts before Christmas, I started preparing for the season of my life; I worked out hard and trained very well. By the second week of December I had made districts at one of our home meets. It really showed me my true potential. I went to States in the new relay that missed it last year. It was there that we set Methacton's fastest 200 yd free relay, in the morning. During the afternoon, we have our second attempt at the relay, all of us swam well and I dropped even more time on my split. Unfortunately we fault-started during the relay and were disqualified. Although it was disappointing, we kept our heads up and went home proud of our previous accomplishments.

Coaching Strategy:
This is my second year of coaching the MAC Swim Team. I want to teach more swimmers about how important it is to love what you do and to always follow through with it. Do the best to your ability; prove it to yourself and to everyone around you that you are more than capable of achieving anything you set your mind to. Determination is key; without that, the race may just be already over. Pain is only temporary, if your muscles are sore during laps KEEP GOING, I know from experience. It is not worth skipping the laps just so you can rest for a couple seconds. Swimming laps has more of an influece towards your race outcome than you think.

USA Swimming Coach

Dana Hazard (MAC Head Swimming Coach)