Ryan Hawke grew up in Roseville Minnesota, where he swam for Roseville Area High School, the YMCA Marlins, and STAR. Coach Ryan found his first coaching job in high school, as an assistant coach for the Northern Lights Swimming Club. When he finished swimming in college, Ryan was hired as the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Assistant Swimming Coach. He got back into high school swimming by coaching for Hastings (MN) and Shawano (WI) High School teams. Upon returning to the Twin Cities Area, Coach Ryan worked with the North St. Paul High School Swimming and Diving teams. While helping built their program, he coached several school record holders, All-American, and All-State athletes. Coach Ryan likes to read and swim with his son, Keegan.

This is Kevin O’Brien’s third season with HASA. He grew up in Hastings, Minnesota, where he started his career of life guarding, teaching swim lessons and supervising Hastings Family Aquatic Center. He has been guarding and teaching lessons now for eight years. Kevin started swimming competitively when he was seven and continued swimming through high school. As an 8th grader (High school competition), Kevin won 4th place in the 100 yard butterfly, his favorite stroke. When he was a senior, he was captain of the high school team. Although he was hampered by shoulder injuries, Kevin still managed to compete on two of the high school state relay teams. Kevin has one more year of school left at UWRF and is majoring in Conservation with Biology Coaching minor. Kevin is swimming his final year for UWRF and is captain of the men’s team. As a coach, he plans to focus on teaching technique so that swimmers can avoid some of the swimming injuries that he suffered. He hopes to help swimmers become the best that they can while developing their own love for swimming.

Tom Fritchen was born and raised in Racine, WI. He started his swimming career as a Freshman at Washington Park High School where he was named captain his Senior year. Attending UW-River Falls, Tom continued to swim for 4 years where he was voted captain his Junior and Senior year by his fellow teammates. During his 4 years swimming for UWRF he received the Most Improved, Most Inspirational, and Falcon Awards by his teammates and coaches. After finishing with the UWRF Swim Team in the Spring of 2008, Tom has been a volunteer coach in which he focuses on distance and technique. This is Tom’s second season coaching with the Hudson Area Swim Association. Tom has a Bachelor in Fine Arts with a major studio in Painting and a minor studio in Glass Blowing.

Becky Lewis has been swimming competitively since she was 8 years old. Her favorite stroke is breaststroke. She has been involved in the USA swim program, varsity swimming in middle and high school, and swam for Buena Vista University. She has a love for kids—with 17 years of experience teaching swimming lessons and coaching. In her other life, she has worked as the Community Program Director for the YMCA for the past 7 years, working with youth, teens, and families in a variety of capacities. Becky is also a licensed teacher and a practitioner for the National After School Matters Practitioners Fellowship. When she has some down time, Becky likes to read books and go camping.

Emily Stein grew up on the sunny side of Taylors Falls, Minnesota. She attended Chisago Lakes High School, where she was a four time varsity swimming letter recipient. In high school Emily was awarded all conference and all conference honorable mention awards. Emily was a Minnesota state swimming finalist for 3 years, aiding her teammates in breaking the school records in the 200 free and the 400 free relays. Currently Emily is attending UWRF, where she is studying Art Education and History. For UWRF Emily mainly swims mid distance freestyle; and last year she helped break the university’s 400 free relay and 800 free relay records. During Emily’s freshman year, she was voted the team’s hardest worker. Emily is looking forward to be working with HASA.