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Kim Easterday
The Dean of Coaches at McDaniel, Easterday enters her 33rd
season with the same enthusiasm that has been her trademark since
taking over the program in 1976.
Easterday’s experience restored her squad’s presence
at the NCAA Championship meet in 2002 after a seven-year
absence.
Success is nothing new to Easterday. Under her leadership, eight
different Green Terror swimmers have attained All-America status,
including Denise Frech, who earned the honor 15 times between 1980
and 1983. Easterday still guides Centennial Conference (CC)
champions with regularity, several of which are poised to become
All-Americans this season.
Easterday also serves as the aquatics coordinator and is a
lecturer in the Exercise Science and Physical Education Department.
Her understanding of the importance of academics is one of the many
reasons she annually produces swimmers for the CC Academic Honor
Roll as well as Academic and Scholar All-American teams.
A graduate of Denison University, Easterday has worked alongside
Maryland’s top swimmers for more than a quarter-century. She
was also the Green Terror women’s lacrosse coach for two
decades before stepping down to focus solely on swimming in
1999.
Extending the McDaniel family with her own, Kim’s husband
Steve is a 1972 graduate of the College and is a former soccer and
golf coach on the Hill. Steve and Kim are the proud parents of
Matt, Mary and Catie. Matt and Mary both swam for the Green Terror.
Hiestand enters his ninth season with the Green Terror swim teams. A native of Reading, Pa., he attended the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC), where he was a four-year letterwinner and earned a degree in English.
Hiestand brings over a decade's worth of coaching experience to McDaniel. He has seen success at every level he has coached, from age-group National Champions to high school All-Americans to collegiate national qualifiers.
In his previous eight years with the McDaniel teams, Hiestand has coached five individual conference champions in eight events, and pushed swimmers to no fewer than 30 program records.In 2002, he guided Melanie Pulley to the NCAA Championships.
In addition to his duties with the McDaniel swim teams, Hiestand also serves as the head coach of the Green Terror Aquatic Club, a USA Swimming program. Under his direction, the club has produced three Olympic Trials qualifiers (2004, 2008), six national age-group records and numerous USA Senior and Junior National qualifiers. The club has recently been named a Silver Medal club in USA Swimming's prestigious Club Excellence Program for the eighth consecutive year.
Heistand has garnered individual awards, as well. He has been named the Maryland Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year three consecutive seasons and has been selected as an assistant coach for both USA Swimming's Regional and National Select Camps in 2007.
Hiestand, who also oversees the College's
popular swim lesson program, resides in the area with his wife
Shannon, and their four children, Tristin, Tanner, Gabrielle and
Scarlett.
