We are excited to welcome Ian Cross as the head coach for the 2022 season! Coach Ian is an ASCA Level 5 (highest) USA Swimming coach. He has been the Club Coach of 2 U.S. National Team Members (2018 Nick Alexander 200 Back and Evie Pfeifer 200/400 IM). He was also the Club Coach of 2 WUGS athletes (Pfeifer and Iriondo) and 2 Junior Pan Pac athletes (Lauren Driscoll and Damaris Iriondo). Coach Ian is the 2nd-time Age Group Of the Year Coach (FGC LSC), 3rd-time Southern Zone Coach, and 3rd-time FGC All-Star Coach 2003-2006. Athletes who have swum for Coach Ian have gone on to swim at top programs like Alabama, Florida, Cal, Georgia, FSU, Princeton, Missouri, and Texas, among other Division I Programs.
Coach Ian has 2 daughters who swim at the University of Texas (Eve and Abby) and lives in Kyle, TX with his wife, Angela. He has coached in Missouri, Florida, and Texas and has over 20 years of coaching experience. Before his coaching career, Coach Ian was a United States Marine stationed in California, Virginia, and Hawaii.
Some Notable Accomplishments:
7 USA Swimming Olympic Trials Qualifiers (2004, 2012, 2016)
Placed 2 swimmers on the USA Swimming National Junior Team
Placed 5 swimmers on the USA Swimming National Select Camps
Over 120 Top 16/Top 10 Individual rankings, including 11 #1 rankings.
Abby Pfeifer began swimming competitively at age four in St. Louis, MO with the Cool Dell Dragons. The fun of summer league swimming–playing card games between events, racing her best friends, eating snow cones after a meet–is what made her fall in love with the sport. She went on to compete collegiately for the University of Arkansas during the 2020-2021 season, after which she transferred to the University of Texas to continue her career. At UT, Abby raced her way to multiple top-three Big XII conference finishes and qualified for the 2023 NCAA meet. Her favorite events are the 1650 freestyle and 200 backstroke. She is thrilled to help young swimmers find joy in their sport while working hard and improving their skills. Abby is a senior studying English and creative writing, and hopes to become a teacher/professor in the future.