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Carolyn Boak |
Carolyn Boak began her coaching career in 1963 with summer league teams, has been coaching Masters Swimmers since 1983, and us since 2000. Carolyn started competitive swimming at age 13 and competed for five years, highlighted by swimming finals at Senior Nationals. Carolyn became a Masters swimmer in 1977 (with Los Altos Masters) and went on to set numerous national and world records and is the recipient of many USMS awards including their most prestigious, the Ransom Arthur Award, for all her many contributions to Masters swimming – including being the meet director for the largest USMS National SC Championships held to date; in 1987 at Stanford. She has also received the honor of being inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame for her incredible athletic achievements. Carolyn is married to Tom (also a Masters Swimmer and coach – see below) and shares her time with us and her children, and grandchildren, back in California. |
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Tom Boak |
Tom Boak is one of our founding members and has been coaching us since 2002. Tom crowned his youth career by being a Middle Atlantic Conference Champion in 1963 and then took up Masters swimming in 1977. Tom, as a breaststroker, has been a national and world champion and record holder. Tom has been the meet director for national short and long course championships, is currently serving as Treasurer of U.S. Aquatic Sports, has chaired the Championship, Rules, and Finance Committees, and served as President of USMS from 1985-1989. Tom is a recipient of the Meet Directors Award and of the Ransom Arthur Award, in addition to his induction into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame as a great contributor to the sport of swimming. Tom is married to Carolyn (also a Masters Swimmer and coach – see above) and is a long time Woodlands resident and "Home Town Hero." |
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Stacey Eicks |
Stacey began swimming at the age of 12 with a summer league team in Gaithersburg, Maryland. She took to the water quickly and enjoyed the team environment so much that she biked to practice and back home the entire season before disclosing to Mom and Dad that she needed a ride and food money for the championship meet! She competed in high school and her favorite event was the 500 free. Stacey earned her B.S and Masters in Mechanical Engineering, married a fellow engineer and swimmer (Ted) and re-discovered her love for swimming in the '80's. While raising her two daughters and continuing her engineering career, Stacey remained involved with aquatics by participating on swim team boards, organizing summer and year-round age group meets, and swimming masters with Space City Aquatics Team (SCAT), H2O with Emmett Hines and Woodlands Masters Swim Team (WMST). Her years swimming with Emmett helped her to appreciate the finer elements of technique, total immersion and efficiency in the water (once a geek always a geek). After moving to Spring, Stacey joined WMST in 2004 and served on the board of directors as Secretary prior to accepting the President's role in 2015. Stacey began coaching for WMST in the Spring of 2017 and enjoys helping our teammates meet their personal fitness goals and improve their technique. |
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Greg Tharp |
Greg Tharp loves Masters swimming and coaching. He swam competitively throughout his childhood, was on 2 state champion teams in high school, and on four Big Eight championship teams with the University of Kansas. Besides swimming, Greg enjoys bicycling and an occasional triathlon. Greg is a clinical psychologist with a strong interest in sports psychology and would like to assist Masters Swimmers in fully developing the mental aspects of their competitive or fitness swimming. |
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Alana Wilson |
Alana began swimming on a team at the age of 4 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where she was born, and her parents worked for Aramco. While swimming on the Dhahran Youth Swim League (DYSL) in Saudi, she broke multiple National records and was the all-around Age Group Champion multiple times as she aged up through the years. As a member of DYSL, she traveled to the USA every summer to compete in the AAU Junior Olympics and won multiple events. In 2003 she was awarded with the AAU Joel Ferrell Award for Outstanding Performance. She continued to swim while in boarding school for high school at Cranbrook Kingswood in Bloomfield Hills, MI and was a member of All-American relay teams. Alana moved down to Texas for university where she swam at Southwestern University (SU). Throughout her career at SU she was a 4 time SCAC conference champion (200 breast x2, 400 IM, and 100 breast), broke the 100 breast SCAC championship record, and broke 10 school records. She received an NCAA "B" cut in the 100 breast, but missed out on selection for the meet by 0.06 seconds. She joined WMST in 2009 after graduating from Southwestern University with a B.S. in Biology, and even continued to compete with the team while she was in grad school in Orlando, FL completing her Masters of Medical Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Nova Southeastern University. Alana lives in Spring, TX with her husband Jacob (also a member of WMST), and their children Analeigh & Liam. |
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Scot Marshall |
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Steve White |
Steve’s interest in swimming started when his family move from New Hampshire to Columbus, Ohio. Steve was a decent all-around athlete, but when his father met with the high school counselor and swim coach, he gave the impression that his son could swim like a fish. Unaware of the meeting, Steve joined the team and was soon hooked on the sport, competing in all disciplines and serving as captain his junior and senior years. He was honored as the team MVP and broke many school records. Swimming summer league and then year-round was the natural progression under the training of coach John Bischoff, founder of Sequoia Swim Club, and Coach John Bruce, founder of Westerville Aquatics and head coach at the time of The Ohio State University. Steve’s passion for masters swimming started in 1998, swimming for, and occasionally coaching for, the late Emmet Hines, founder of H2O Houston Swims. During that time, Steve met a beautiful mermaid that was landlocked for many years and helped her get back into the water (a.k.a his wife Lisa). While competing at the Masters World Championships in 2006, Steve met Tom and Carolyn Boak and joined the Woodlands Masters’ program later that year. Appointed to the Woodlands Board in 2008, Steve served as President from 2010-2-15, and has been an avid volunteer and meet director for several local and zone meets hosted by the team. Steve started coaching for WMST in 2012 and enjoys coaching athletes at all levels focusing on technique and individual goals. Steve believes that any day you can get in the water is a great day, and takes pride that, as master swimmers, we can take part in a sport where swimmers are competing well into their 90’s. |
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Sara Bany |
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
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Ted Eicks |
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Ross Davis |
As a walk-on at Clarion University of Pennsylvania he earned a spot on the State Conference Team his first year in 100/200 Backstroke and 200/400 IM. Granted a scholarship his sophomore year but missing National qualifying in the same events, was asked to swim 200 Butterfly his junior year. He qualified for Nationals just 4 months later in the new event and went on to earn NCAA All American Honors 8 times. After a hiatus in the corporate world, Ross started coaching in 2002; later becoming ASCA certified and began competing again in 2003. In 2005 he won his first Masters National Titles and in 2006, while competing in FINA Masters World Championships he broke 2 Masters World Records. He married Laura (Koch) Davis in 2008, loves dogs and is also an avid hunter while enjoying all types of outdoor activity. |
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Laura Koch Davis |
Laura started competitive swimming at age 10 in Sugar Land, was a High School All-American in 1994, and went on to earn an academic/athletic scholarship to attend Iona College in New Rochelle, NY. While at Iona she set numerous school records, was team captain for swimming and water polo, won Most Valuable and Most Dedicated Honors throughout her collegiate career, named MAAC Conference Champ, and All-Academic Water polo 1999. She graduated from Iona in 1998 with a B.A. in History, and with Honors from Iona Graduate School in 2000 with an MST in History/Education. Laura joined WMST in 2006 and has been active in Masters swimming since 2002. She is ranked Top Ten nationally and FINA in numerous events, and also serves as a delegate for the Marketing committee. She started her coaching career while in high school for summer league teams and has worked with many USA , USMS, and summer league teams in New York and Texas since 1993. She is a certified USA and ASCA Level 3 Coach. Laura Koch (now Davis) married Ross (see above), and moved here from Austin. They now live in Spring with their three dogs Guinness, Steele, and Stryder. |
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In Memory of Coach Sabine Weiser |
Our coach, friend, and teammate, Sabine Weiser, passed away on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019. Sabine was a kind and selfless person, and we were lucky to have her on our team. As a friend and as a coach, she enthusiastically helped swimmers of all levels to achieve their goals. She will be missed dearly by all.
In her honor, WMST has renamed the "November Classic" swim meet to the "Sabine Weiser November Classic". |
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