New Coaches Have Joined The GHHS Swim Team
Picture of McCorkle Aquatic Pavillion where the GHHS Swim Team swims at an annual meet (Photo: SwimCloud.com).
The Grandview Heights High School swim team has had much success within their last a few seasons. This includes a large number of state qualifiers, new state and school records, and much more. Yes, the swimmers themselves make up for a lot of this success, but these achievements couldn’t have been done without the coaching staff.
For the current, 2025 to 2026, season, two new coaches have joined the team. This brings the team to a total of four coaches, Susan Fergeson, Claire Fogarty, and the two new coaches, Grace Kadlicek and Jack Beatty. With only about twenty-five swimmers, the ample number of coaching staff is optimal for a successful season this year. Coach Susan has been head coach of the team for almost ten years and brings a lot of solid experience and knowledge to the team. The other returning coach, Claire, has been with the team for about three years and has been committed to the team the moment the season starts.
The first new coach, Grace Kadicek, previously swam at Denison University for four years. She actually swam with Coach Susan’s daughter, Phoebe Fergeson, which is how she got in contact with the Grandview team. At Denison University, her main swimming events included the fifty freestyle, one-hundred freestyle, and four-hundred medley relay. The four-hundred medley relay she was a part of won the event at the 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Her majors in biology, health, exercise and sport studies (HESS) brought her to Columbus to follow a pre-med track. Columbus is not her hometown because she is from Lancing, New York. Her bulk of first-hand experience in the swimming world and her expertise in springing events, are going to be very valuable to the team, especially since the Grandview Heights High School team always seems to have more sprinters than long distance swimmers.
The other new coach, Jack Beatty, works at Rosemore Middle School in Whitehall as a sixth grade social studies teacher. Here, he also helps to coach the middle school track team in the Spring. Within the realm of swimming, Jack has been involved within the sport for many years. Starting on a YMCA team, and continuing to keep with the sport in college, on the Miami University (Ohio) club swim team. He originally targeted the events of Butterfly and Freestyle short distance. But grew into doing more long distance events, such as the five-hundred freestyle. You can tell he really loves the sport. For example, in his assistant coach bio for the Grandview Heights Swim Team, he writes, “Swimming is my passion. It gave me my first several jobs, taught me discipline and sportsmanship, and shaped how I approach teaching and leadership.”
Overall, the future of the Grandview Heights High School Swim Team seems to be bright. The existing and new coaches have a true drive for the sport. That, combined with their vast backgrounds in swimming, create excellent leaders that can share and teach their valuable experiences within the sport of swimming.