In April of 2016, Ben Wachtel was picked as an assistant coach for the girls swimming team, and an associate head coach for the swim club. The road to this position led back to his time at the school, where he was an athlete on the swim team. After swimming for four years at Purdue University, he came back to serve as a volunteer assistant for a few years, before becoming a coach for the team. In his short time with the team Wachtel has done much to expand its social media presence, managing several social media accounts and the websites for the swim club and the girls swimming team.

  “It’s about bringing attention to the things we’re already doing,” Wachtel said. “We do a lot of fun activities that may seem unusual to outsiders, so we try to share these activities, and we’re a high-achieving program with a lot of success stories we want to actively share.”

  Wachtel uses social media to highlight individual triumphs as well, such as in the featured athlete of the month.

  “We’re trying to tell the story of how these individuals are setting the bar higher by working hard and being a positive influence on others,” Wachtel said. “Hopefully even people who don’t know a lot about the sport can see how much fun we’re having through our social media.”

  Besides his work with their social media presence, the swimmers have taken note of his different coaching style.

  “He’s brought in a new way of coaching and is a new, younger set of eyes and has a different way of doing things that overall, we really like,” senior Megan Lugar said. “He’s also really good with addressing the emotional side of swimming.”