John Morse

Head Coach

Email

Since taking over the helm as the Head Coach of the Nashville Aquatic Club in 1984, John Morse has established a tradition of dedication and excellence in Middle Tennessee.

The 1989, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, and 2009 Southeastern Swimming LSC Coach of the Year, Morse has coached the team to over 40 LSC Championship titles.

Upon Morse’s arrival, NAC has established itself as a consistent and elite program in developing fast, successful swimmers. Through Morse’s guidance, NAC has finished in the top 10 at Senior Nationals, as high as 2nd at the Junior National Championships, and has been overall team champion at the Southeastern Sectional Championships.

Coach Morse has developed more than 50 Olympic Trial qualifiers, over a dozen National finalists, four World University Games qualifiers, World Junior Championship qualifiers, Junior National Champions, National Team members, FINA World Junior Champions, and swimmers that went on to become NCAA champions and All Americans.

Morse’s leadership has helped the team garner its twelfth consecutive Gold Medal Club Award this year. This award identifies USA Swimming Clubs that have attained a high level of athlete performance as well as organizational success. NAC has been honored as a Gold Medal Club in each year of the awards existence.

Morse’s success has also led him to earn the American Swim Coaches Association Bronze Award of Excellence, signifying ten years of having a finalist at Nationals. Morse has served as a National Team Coach in 1992, 2008, 2011, and has been a part of the Olympic Development Camp (1994), the Eagle Camp (1995), Zone Distance Camp (1997), and National Select Camp (1998). Morse was selected as an assistant coach for the National Junior Team in 2007-2008, and participated in international competition in Melbourne, Australia.  In 2008, Morse was recognized by USA Swimming as the USA Swimming Developmental Coach of the Year, and was selected as the head women's coach for the 2009 National Junior Team trip to Vancouver.  In 2010, Morse was selected as the co-head coach of the Junior Pan-Pacific team which competed in Hawaii.  In 2011, Morse was selected as a member of the Pan-American Games coaching staff which competed in Mexico.  In 2012, Morse was selected as a coach for the Junior Pan-Pacific team competing in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Coach Morse also stays involved in the politics of swimming. He has been a delegate to the United States Swimming Aquatic Convention more than a dozen times. He has also served on the National Championship Time Standards Committee, the National Championship site selection committee, the National Club Development Committee, and currently serves on the Senior Development Committee for USA Swimming. Coach Morse is also a member of the Southeastern Swimming board of directors and has served as the Senior Chairman, Technical Planning Director, Outreach Director, and Swim-a-Thon Director.

He also stays very involved in high school swimming, and was instrumental in bringing the high school state meet to Nashville in 1991. He has worked with the Nashville Metro Parks and Nashville Sports Council to secure three Senior National Championships, 2 Junior National Championships, and 1 Masters National Championships for the city.

Coach Morse is a graduate of the University of Florida, where he swam on conference and NCAA championship teams.  Coach Morse is happily married and has 2 stepchildren.  He is also an avid fisherman, and has one dog named Jackson.

Doug Wharam

Senior Coordinator

Email

Doug enters his third season with Nashville Aquatic Club as Senior Assistant, coaching alongside NAC Head Coach John Morse. During his tenure in Nashville, the Senior group has developed ten NAC swimmers to first time summer Junior National cuts, eight first time summer Senior National qualifiers, six Olympic Trial qualifiers, placed nine athletes on the Southeastern Zone Championship team, and had numerous USA Swimming Top 10 swims, including multiple #1 rankings.  In addition, NAC has also had international success, with athletes securing multiple gold medals at FINA World Junior Championships and the Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

Prior to his tenure with NAC, Doug was the Director of Competitive Swimming with the Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club in Waynesboro, Va., the Head Age Group Coach and Assistant Senior Coach at Seacoast Swimming in Providence, R.I., Head Age Group Coach with the Waves of Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C. and Assistant Age Group Coach with Machine Aquatics in the Washington, D.C. area. Collegiately, he has served volunteer assistant coach posts at Brown University, the University of Virginia, and more recently, with Vanderbilt University’s Women's swim team.

A 2005 graduate of the University of Virginia, Doug earned a master’s degree in Sport Management from the State University of New York at Cortland in 2011, and is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Sport Management. He is certified as an ASCA Level 4 coach and was selected as a 2009-2010 ASCA Fellow.

Sarah Peterson

Age Group Coordinator

Email

Sarah is entering her second season with the Nashville Aquatic Club as Age Group Coordinator.  Sarah swam for the Nashville Aquatic Club for 11 seasons, and during that time was a member of the National Junior Team and a 2008 Olympic Trials Qualifier.  Sarah grew up in Franklin, and was a high school All-American and team captain at Franklin High School.

After graduation, Sarah attended the University of Florida where she swam for coach Gregg Troy.  While at Florida, Sarah was a 3-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, an NCAA All-American, and a member of the 2009 SEC Championship, and 2010 NCAA Championship team.  Sarah graduated with a degree in advertising.

Sarah is dedicated to continuing the tradition of excellence of the age group program!

Ashley Blackburn

Developmental Coordinator

Email

As the Developmental Coordinator, Ashley oversees and coaches the Pre-Competitive Group, Green Group, and White Group.  She grew up in Northern Kentucky and swam for the Kenton County Clippers and the Cincinnati Marlins.  During her time at the Marlins she qualified for and competed in the 1996 Olympic Trials.  Ashley swam collegiately at Northwestern University and graduated with a degree in Communications in 2002.  After graduating she moved to Franklin and became an assistant coach with NAC.  In 2004 she became the NAC site coordinator at the WCISC where she developed swimmers from beginner level to those recognized as National Age Group Top-10.  Ashley has also been a SwimAmerica swim lesson instructor both in Northern Kentucky and Nashville.  She is looking forward to helping young swimmers transition to the team and develop a love for the sport of competitive swimming.  She currently lives in Franklin with her husband and four children.

Christian Bahr

Red Group Coach

Email

Christian is entering his first season with the Nashville Aquatic Club.  He is also working as the Director of Aquatics for the Ensworth School.

Colin Ackerman

Green & White Group Coach

Email

Colin is originally from Baltimore, Maryland where he coached for various club and summer league teams. After receiving his BA in Mass Communication from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Colin was accepted into the Teach for America corps. He is currently a Kindergarten teacher at McGavock Elementary School in Donelson. He is also pursuing his Masters in Instructional Practice from Lipscomb University. He is very excited to be a part of the NAC family.

Brian Allen

Senior 1 Coach, Masters

Email

Coach Brian Allen is entering his third season with NAC and will again be coaching the Senior 1 group.  He has previously coached for Father Ryan High School and has been the coach for their middle school program for the past 5 years.

Coach Brian swam for NAC for 7 years.  He was a 2 time High School All American in the 100 Breaststroke as well as a Junior National Qualifier in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke.  Coach Brian is incredibly proud of continuing to hold spots on the NAC Top-10 (even if it is #10)!

He swam collegiately at the College of Charleston where he held the school records in both the 100 and 200 Breaststroke when he graduated with a degree in Media Communications in 2002.

Jake Barone

Green & White Group Coach

Email

Jake grew up swimming in Manassas, Virginia where he swam for Curl Burke under former Olympian, Jeremy Lyn. During this time he coached two years for Curl Burke working with their 8 and under group. Jacob has also been the assistant head coach for his summer league swim team in Virginia the past 3 years where he worked with the 11-12 age group. While swimming for Curl Burke he qualified for the Junior Olympics and Senior Nationals in the breaststroke events. Before going to college he was offered the opportunity to swim at various colleges on the east coast, but decided to take up Audio Engineering at Belmont University where he is currently studying as a junior.

Jimmy Denneny

Blue Group Coach

Email

Jimmy grew up in Knoxville and began swimming for the Pilot Aquatic Club.  He stopped pursuing swimming competitively after high school due to injury and graduated from Clemson University in 2011 with a degree in Economics. He is currently working in Nashville as a consultant to the State.

Jimmy started coaching his summer club under the late UT coach, Joe Hendee, in 2008 and has led the team to a championship 2 out of the last 3 years. He also has experience giving lessons to swimmers ranging from beginners to Senior National qualifiers. Jimmy comes to NAC following a successful season with the Webb School of Knoxville and is excited to work with the Blue Group.

Stephanie Falcone

Pre-Comp & Red Group Coach

Email

Stephanie is entering her first season with NAC.  She grew up swimming in the Washington, D.C. area and is originally from Potomac, MD.  She was recruited to Loyola University in Maryland and swam under Brian Loeffler, but then transferred to Vanderbilt as a sophomore and swam under Jeremy Organ for her remaining 3 seasons.  She graduated in May 2012 with a degree in Studio Art and Managerial Studies and is staying in Nashville to pursue songwriting.  She’s coached at Old Natchez Country Club as well as Vanderbilt swim clinics.  Stephanie also works in Nashville as a Pilates instructor.  She’s excited about joining the NAC staff and working with the White Group!

Marla Hastings

Green Group Coach

Email

Marla Hastings will be coaching the Green Group at the Indoor Sports Complex this year. She began coaching as a summer league swim coach for the Cottonwood Pirates in 1997, when her older children began swimming. She coached for Excel Aquatics for several years until adopting Gracee in 2005.  She was the coach for Franklin High School Swim Team from 2000-2006, and was named Tennessee High School Swim Coach of the Year in 2004. Presently she coaches the middle school swim team at Brentwood Academy. Marla’s background is classical ballet, so she knows the importance of learning technique and she loves teaching the basics. She is married to K. Dwayne Hastings; they have 8 children ranging in ages from 5-years-old to 33-years-old…the last three adopted from China. The Hastings have made Franklin their home for the past 16 years.

James Loveless

Pre-Comp & Blue Group Coach

Email

James Loveless grew up in Westchester, NY swimming for Badger Swim Team under coach John Collins. James was a Junior National Qualifier in the freestyle events as a ninth grader. By twelfth grade, James expanded into individual medleys and Senior Nationals/Olympic trial times in the freestyle events. James attended UC Berkeley (CAL) where he trained under Nort Thornton and Mike Bottom (Michigan). There, he was a PAC-10 finalist and was nominated for rookie of the year. After being offered a full scholarship for swimming, James moved to Syracuse University for his remaining years where he was team captain, top five finalist in the Big East Championship and a Big East Academic All Star. After college, James received a fellowship to Fordham University in 2004 where he completed a Master’s in Education for grades 1-6. For the past 6 years, James has been teaching science to elementary/middle school students in the New York area. During this time, he has also been able to coach with for the Badger age group team and coaching country club and high school teams as well. James has coached over 300 age group swimmers to success as well as coaching swimmers to become Junior National Qualifiers and All-American athletes. James swims everyday and truly believes that swimming can improve one’s quality of life.

Glenn McCall

Red Group Coach

Email

Coach Glenn swam for The University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Rankin Academic Scholarship recipient, Presidential Scholarship recipient and a Student/Athlete for the Longhorns. During his career at Texas, he was a four-time All-American and was ranked number-one in the NCAA preseason in his specialty the 200 backstroke. He was a U.S. Olympic Trials finalist in 1984, finishing sixth in the 200m backstroke, earning a Top 25 in the world ranking in that event. Originally from Atlanta, Coach Glenn competed for Swim Atlanta as an age group swimmer and was a member of U.S. National Junior Team that competed in a US vs. USSR Dual Meet in the former Soviet Union. Aside from a career in human resources related businesses, he has coached summer league and master's programs in Texas as well as in Nashville. Coach Glenn is married to former NAC swimmer and fellow Longhorn Claire Sanders McCall and is father to Will and Rob.

Chris McPherson

Masters

Email

Although raised in Maryland, Chris is a native Tennessean, born in Memphis!  Chris started her swimming career at the age of 6, swimming for summer league teams, the Rockville JCC, then Rockville Montgomery Swim Club (RMSC), as an age grouper until college.   Chris was a Junior National qualifier in numerous events spanning her high school and college years, and she also represented the USA at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel in 1985, earning two silver medals and one bronze.  Chris swam collegiately for Princeton University, was selected to All-Ivy and All East Teams, and was team captain in her senior year.

Chris’ career as a masters’ swimmer began in 1991, when she swam with Southern California Aquatics Masters (SCAQ).  After a move to Baltimore in 1993, Chris founded the masters program at North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC), in addition to coaching age groupers (where she coached a lanky 9-year old named Michael Phelps!).

After taking a break to have children, Chris continued coaching after the family moved to Nashville.  Chris coached Westside Masters (The Club at Westside) for 9 years, then headed up JCC Masters for another 3 years, before switching over to NAC Masters last October.   Chris has numerous years of experience teaching swim lessons and coaching middle and high school, summer league, USS

Rebecca Senn

Pre-Comp, Green & Red Group Coach

Email

Coach Becca will be coaching the Pre-Competitive Group and the Red Group.  She began swimming for NAC at age six in the Green Group and continued to swim for NAC for the next 12 years.  Becca also swam for Hillsboro High School and received a swimming scholarship to James Madison University.  Upon completion of her sophomore year she chose to retire from swimming and transfer to Belmont University where she is currently pursuing a degree in Nursing. Becca has been the assistant swim coach at Old Natchez Country Club for 3 summers, and has taught private lessons for the past five years.  Becca was also a Swim America instructor for over a year and is now looking forward to another great year as a NAC Coach! 

Tricia Weaner

Blue Group Coach

Email

Coach Tricia grew up swimming for the West Shore YMCA in Camp Hill, PA.  She then went on to swim at the University of Tennessee where she was a 3-time All-American and an All-SEC Honor Roll member.  Tricia qualified for Olympic Trials in 2000, 2004, and 2008 and was a 2 time Olympic Trial Semi-Finalist.  She graduated from UT in 2011 with a degree in Finance and Enterprise Management, and currently works at Caterpillar Financial.

Clarissa Wentworth

Pre-Comp & Red Group Coach

Email

Clarissa started coaching the Pre-Competitive Group in the Winter of 2012.  She swam competitively for 16 years, getting her start with the Dayton Raiders Swim Club in Dayton, OH. After high school, she swam for Indiana University, specializing in freestyle and butterfly. Clarissa returned to the Dayton Raiders and coached age-group, high school, and Master's level swimmers for two years after college. She then moved to middle Tennessee and is currently working as an elementary school councilor.

Margaret Akers

SwimAmerica Program Director

Email

Coach Margaret, a native of North Carolina, grew up swimming for the High Point Swim Club and swam collegiately for Emory University. She holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the Vanderbilt School of Law. In 2006, she returned to swimming as the full-time Program Director for NAC SwimAmerica and has been instrumental in the program’s rise as one of the region’s premier swim schools. As Director, she is committed to SwimAmerica’s goal-driven curriculum with an emphasis on both competitive technique and safety. Her young swimmers graduate to be competitors in the Nashville and Williamson County Swim Leagues as well as beginner year-round swimmers for the Nashville Aquatic Club. She and her husband Todd have two sons, Seth, a NAC alum and current distance freestyler at Brown University and Holt, a high school senior who is both a competitive swimmer and baseball player.