Grain Valley News
  • Home
  • About
    • Submit Your News
    • Contact
  • News
    • Voter Resources
    • Online Puzzles
  • Community
    • Events Calendar
    • Kindness Awards
    • 2023 Garage Sale Directory
    • Parade
  • Job Board
  • Best of Grain Valley
  • Support
    • Advertise
    • Become A Sustaining Member
  • Business Directory Submission Form
  • Home
  • About
    • Submit Your News
    • Contact
  • News
    • Voter Resources
    • Online Puzzles
  • Community
    • Events Calendar
    • Kindness Awards
    • 2023 Garage Sale Directory
    • Parade
  • Job Board
  • Best of Grain Valley
  • Support
    • Advertise
    • Become A Sustaining Member
  • Business Directory Submission Form








​news

New coach looks to rebuild Grain Valley boys swimming program

8/12/2022

 
by Michael Smith
     The Grain Valley boys and girls swimming and diving programs had a void to fill.
     After four years leading both programs since their inception, Kara Liddle stepped down as head coach, leaving an opening for a program that is entering its fifth year.
     So who was going to step in? Enter veteran head coach Julie Reilly.
     She will take over as head coach for the Eagles and brings a wealth of experience to a program that is still relatively new. Reilly has been coaching for more than 27 years as she’s led local club teams and was also a U.S. Paralympic Swim coach and the USA National Down Syndrome Swim team head coach of the in the past.
         While Reilly has coached high school athletes on club teams, this will be her first time leading a high school program.
     “Kara was leaving and nobody was stepping up to the job,” Reilly said. “There’s a lot of great talent in Grain Valley. They’re a sleeping dog and if we can get them started again and have a coach, I will step up to that.”
     She will try to help rebuild an Eagles boys program this fall that lost a handful of seniors from last year’s team. So far, Reilly has about eight swimmers and divers that have been working out over the summer, but she is still working on getting more athletes to join.
     “We are still recruiting. A lot of people still don’t know that we have a swim team,” Reilly said.
     Last season, Grain Valley saw a diver qualify for the Missouri State High School Boys Swimming and Diving Championships. Then-sophomore Kollin Hansuld became the second Eagles diver to make it to state in program history.
     Hansuld will be a key piece of last season’s team to return to the Eagles as he has set some big goals for himself.
     “I want to get the school record for the six dive and 11 dive scores,” Hansuld said. “I think I have a pretty good chance of doing that this year.”
     Senior Even Reich also returns as the team’s most experienced swimmer as he will compete in the relay and 200 freestyle events.
     “Our relays were super close to making it to state last year and I would have been the next up to swim in the 200,” Reich said. “I want to make it to state. I am on all three relays for the school record, but I want to be on the record board for an individual event. The 200 free is the one where I feel like I will be able to make it.”
     There will also be some newcomers entering the fold as senior Riley Strickland will be trying diving for the first time. Freshman Gage Wright will join the program and will both swim and dive for the Eagles. Hayden Harshman is another freshman who will also see time in the pool.
     Reilly will try and help her experienced and new swimmers reach their goals. In preseason practices, she has put the main focus on her swimmers perfecting their technique.
     “I do work on a lot of technique, because if I can get that down and have them grab that concept, then stroke will be faster, cleaner and better,” Reilly said. 
     Reich added that there is a stark contrast in the coaching styles of Liddle and Reilly, and he is hopeful that he and his team can have a good season in 2022.
     “Each practice feels a whole lot different,” Reich said. “We have a lot of young leadership on the team to show what we have. It’s a really positive change for everyone.”
     “A big difference is we are focusing our sets on getting our form correct instead of building endurance. The practices are different, and we are getting better in different ways. The coaches are doing a good job of getting us better and I am excited about the season moving forward.”
 

Picture
From left, senior diver Riley Strickland, senior swimmer Evan Reich and junior diver Kollin Hansuld are the three upperclassmen who will compete on the Grain Valley boys swimming and diving team under new head coach Julie Reilly. Photo credit: Michael Smith
Picture

Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Burton Kelso
    Business
    Cathy Allie
    Celebrations & Transitions
    Census
    City Of Grain Valley
    Columnists
    Community Profile
    Covid19
    Covid-19
    Economic-development
    Education
    Elections
    Financial-health
    Fitness
    Food Inspections
    Good News
    Good-news
    Grain-valley-assistance-council
    Grain Valley Fair
    Grain Valley Historical Society
    Grain-valley-partnership
    Grain Valley Schools
    Health And Fitness
    Health-and-fitness
    Home And Garden
    Jackson County
    Kindness Awards
    Ld
    Local News
    Looking Back
    Lorne-meinershagen
    Missouri House Of Representatives
    Missouri Senate
    Musings From The Middle
    Neighborhood View
    On-the-job
    Pets
    Police Blotter
    Quick-news
    Rdn
    Recreation
    Sally-whitaker
    Seniors
    Senior-send-off
    Sports
    State Of Missouri
    Technology
    Tracey-shaffer
    Transportation
    University Of Missouri Extension
    Waynes-world

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018

Grain Valley News

Grain Valley News is a free community news source published weekly online. 
(c) 2023 Grain Valley News

Contact Us

PO Box 2972
​Grain Valley MO 64029

Privacy Policy
Picture