Alex Reed stepped into an ownership position at King Aquatic Club (KING) and took on the role of Head Coach in 2020. He currently acts as KING’s Head Coach/CEO and coaches KING’s National and other Senior groups.

Accolades with KING:

• Qualified five swimmers to the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Trials
• Placed a swimmer onto the USA Junior Pan-Pacific Team (2024) and National Junior Team (2024-2025)
• Led KING to Western Senior Sectional Titles in Spring 2021 (Combined + Men), Spring 2024 (Men), Summer 2024 (Men)
• Coached KING to two Top 3 Team Finishes at Western Senior Zones Meets (2021, 2022)
• Achieved a Top 20 Team Finish at the USAS 2023 Summer Junior National Championship
• Under Reed's leadership, KING achieved "Silver Medal" Status (Top 100 High Performance Clubs in USAS) through USA Swimming's Club Excellence achievement program in four consecutive seasons (21-22; 22-23, 23-24, 24-25), placing as high as 40th in the Country in 2024-2025 

Other Accolades:

• Has helped qualify hundreds of swimmers and produced several champions at the Regional, Zones, Sectional, Futures, Junior National, and Senior National levels during as his time as a USAS Coach starting in 2006. Coach Reed has coached in the New Mexico, Oregon, and Pacific Northwest Swimming LSC’s
• Two-time PNS Age Group Coach of the Year award recipient (2017, 2018)
• ASCA National Age Group Coach of the Year Nominee (2018)
• Has Coached over 40 PNS Record Swims
• Several swimmers achieving National Top 10 Age Group rankings; including two National Age Group Champions
• Has coached dozens of swimmers who have been selected to USA Swimming Diversity, Zone, and National Select camps
• Coached a swimmer who qualified for the 2012 USAS Paralympic Team and competed in London

Alex lives in Tacoma, Washington with his beautiful girlfriend Melissa and their two children Roxy and Royce.

KING is excited to welcome Alex Nowjack to the coaching staff. Joining KING in 2022, Alex will be working primarily with the Senior Performance Groups. Prior to KING, Alex was the head coach at Fife Area Swim Team (2020-22). Alex grew up in the Pacific Northwest swimming for Bainbridge Island Swim Club, prepped at Bainbridge High School Spartans swim & dive team, and was a member of Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) Lutes swim team before tranfering to Brigham Young University. Alex began coaching in Utah several years ago, where he was the assistant coach at Timpanogos High School (2014-15). A year later he was the assistant coach at Provo High School (2015-16). Shortly after graduating college, he was a volunteer assistant at the Bainbridge Island Aquatic Club (2017-18). Alex was the Head Age Group Coach with the University Place Aquatic Club for two years (2018-20), during which UPAC placed Top 8 in PNS Championships and Age Group Regionals. While coaching with UPAC, he was also the assistant coach for two years (2018-20) at the University of Puget Sound (UPS) Loggers swim team. Alex has qualified swimmers for PNS Championships, Age Group Regionals, and Western Zones. Alex has a deep passion for working with kids of all ages to help them reach their fullest potential. His coaching philosophy focuses on always striving to be better, with particular attention to technical proficiency, hard work, and integrity.

KING is excited to welcome Bret Foreman to the coaching staff. Joining KING in 2020, Foreman will be working initially with the Federal Way Senior Groups. Prior to KING, Foreman was the Head Coach of Puget Sound Aquatics and also coached at Metro Parks Swim Team. Foreman, who is from Tacoma, competed locally for Tacoma Swim Club, Wilson High School Rams, and swam collegiately for the University of California Irvine Anteaters. 

KING is excited to welcome Wendy Neely to the coaching staff. Joining KING in 2022, Wendy will be our Site Coach out at the Covington Aquatic Center. Prior to KING, Wendy was the Head Age Group Coach (1 year) and served as Head Coach (5 years) at Fife Area Swim Team (FAST) where she led 25 swimmers to PNS Championships, 5 swimmers to Regional time cuts, and 5 swimmers to Wester Zone time cuts. Previously, Wendy has been the head coach for the Thomas Jefferson High School Girls and Boys swim teams, winning a State Championship with the boys’ team and Academic State Championship for both boys and girls teams multiple years. Wendy has been coaching competitive swimming for over 20 years. Wendy has been the head swim coach and developer of the largest Masters Swim Team in the State of Washington, Blue Wave Aquatics. She won PNA Coach of the Year in 2017 and received the United States Swimming Kerri O’Brien "Visionary" Award in 2010. Recently, Wendy has put her coaching skills to a test by earning 200HR KRI Kundalini Yoga and Meditation Certification specializing in fear, anger, anxiety and addictive behaviors. This training has expanded into a lifestyle coaching called Soul Swimming working from the inside out. Her constant attention to detail, focus on training effectively and racing with passion led to an outstanding finish to both our short course and long course championship seasons.

Coach Stephanie joined KING in 2020 and will be working at the Covington location. She relocated to Washington from El Paso, Texas where she worked as Head Site Coach for the El Paso Area Posse (EPAP) Swim Team, one of the longest-standing teams in the Border Swimming LSC. She started swimming at an early age in Kansas and continued through high school by swimming for her high school team and town summer league. She began coaching after graduating college in 2008 as the Girl's Head Swimming Coach for Maur Hill-Mount Academy in Atchison, KS where she also taught music classes, then as an assistant coach for the Kansas City Blazers swim team for 2 years. She has continued coaching and teaching in various places worldwide, including South Korea and Colorado Springs, thanks to her husband's ongoing career in the United States Army. 

As a military community member, a certified teacher, Level 4 ASCA Coach, and USA Swimming ADM Age Group certified coach, Coach Stephanie values education and likes to incorporate different subject areas into swimming (math, music, history, social studies, character development, science, etc. They can all be connected to swimming!) She runs a technique-focused program with an emphasis on athlete-centered development. She hopes to share her passion and joy for teaching and learning to help swimmers reach their full potential as human beings and as athletes. The moments that stick out the most to Coach Stephanie over her 10+ years as a coach are the "aha!" moments that swimmers have when they make a learning connection.

Coach Stephanie enjoys spending time with her two dogs and husband, cooking and baking, cycling, swimming, traveling, reading, creating things (DIY projects and crafts), playing piano and trombone, and doing home improvement projects.  

Favorite TV Show: The Office
Favorite Book: The Art of Racing In The Rain - Garth Stein
Favorite Movie: Any of the Pitch Perfect movies!  

King Aquatic Club is excited to welcome Luke Farag to the coaching staff. Joining KING in 2024, Coach Luke will be leading the Age Group programming at PLU/Parkland. Prior to KING, Coach Luke, who is from Renton, competed for Chinook Aquatic Club, Kentridge High School Chargers, and swam collegiately for the Pacific Ltheran University Lutes swim team. He is wrapping up his Senior year as a student at PLU, and is a critical member of the PLU swim team. Luke has extensive experience in aquatics as a lifelong swimmer, and experience with swim lessons and youth coaching.

King Aquatic Club is excited to welcome Amy Lawton Meyer to the coaching staff. Joining KING in 2024, Coach Amy will be leading the Age Group programming in Tacoma. Amy has been involved with swim coaching for over 20 years as a USA and YMCA Certified Coach, having coached all levels of swimming and being perpetually active in the PNW swimming community, including being selected to multiple PNS Zone and PNS All Star coaching staffs.

King Aquatic Club is excited to welcome Kristine Cox to the coaching staff in 2023. Kristine will be working as KING Strength and Conditioning Coach. As a lifelong competitive and former collegiate swimmer, Kristine loves to train and compete. She currently holds several U.S. Masters’ Swimming records at the state and zone levels. Constantly active, she began teaching group exercises in Portland in 2010. A few years later, she began coaching youth and masters swimmers at Stafford Hills Club in Tualatin – specializing in performance training and stroke technique. Kristine’s focus areas as a trainer include functional movement training, sport-specific conditioning, and TRX. Kristine holds a Bachelor of Science from Willamette University, is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer, and is an AFAA Certified Group Fitness Instructor. She is the Co-Head Girls Swim and Dive Coach and the Head Boys Swim and Dive Coach at Bainbridge High School.

King Aquatic Club is excited to welcome Rachel Metzgar to the coaching staff in 2021. Coach Rachel will be working as a substiute coach. Coach Rachel started swimming at age 8 swimming in San Diego, California. At age 17, she qualified for Senior Nationals in the 1000 and 1650 freestyle and was recruited to the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Human Factors Engineering. As a Fighting Falcon at USAFA, she was an All-American, and two years in a row she finished 2nd place to her twin sister (also a USAFA Alumni) in the 500 and 1650 freestyle events at the NCAA Division II championships 1995, 1996. After graduation, Rachel was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force, and attended Undergraduate Pilot Training, graduating in 1999 as a KC-135 pilot. In 2006, she transitioned to the Air Force Reserves, where she continues to serve as a full-time C-17 Instructor/Evaluator Pilot. She has over 3,500 flight hours and feels so lucky to have traveled all over the world in the service of our Country. Most recently, she was inducted into the USAFA Swimming Hall of Fame in 2017 as a member of the first team, men or women, to win a NCAA Championship (Division II).

Rachel believes her career as a swimmer taught her lifelong skills such as time management, comradery, work ethic and resiliency, and she hopes as a coach to instill the same values in her athletes. She directly credits the lessons she learned as a swimmer with her ability to graduate pilot training and serve as a pilot for the last 23 years, as well as overcome many life challenges. She has been a proud swim mom for almost 6 years and has two awesome children who are on King Aquatic Club.

She is married to Charles Metzgar, who also served as an USAF Pilot for 25 years and is currently an Alaska Airlines Captain. She has 3 cats and enjoys running, coaching, and watching swimming, reading and traveling.

King Aquatic Club alumna and Olympian Svetlana "Svet" Karpeeva returned to KING as a coach in 2018 before stepping down in 2020 as a full time Age Group Coach in order spend more time with her young family and focus on training to qualify for a spot on the Russian Olympic Team with a goal of competing in 2021 at Tokyo. While no longer coaching full time on the pool deck, Svet will continue to fill in as a substitute coach.

Swimming at a competitive level for nearly two decades, Svet’s career also has a strong emphasis on education, with coaching experience at numerous swim schools both in Russia and the US. With post-graduate work in physical education and sports training, she complements her swimming achievements with 13 published articles in scientific journals and students winning titles around the world after training under her leadership.

Svet represented Russia in 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She placed 13th in 200 IM and broke 20 year old Russian National Record. In 2006 and 2008 Svetlana won 4 gold medals at World Cup series (New York, Belo-Horizonte, Singapore and Moscow). While training at KING, she earned 3 bronze medals at World University Games (2007 and 2009) and one bronze at US Open (2009). After Svet retired from competitive swimming in 2012 she started working as a specialist of the scientific group at Russian National Junior Team. During 2012-2016 Russian juniors demonstrated great results at World and European Junior Championships, winning overall or getting in top 3 teams. On the side of that Svet was coaching her own group of athletes at Russian National Training Center in Volgograd. One of the swimmers from that group has made Russian National Team for Junior World Championships in 2015. Svet is passionate about passing her experience to the young generation of swimmers. She truly thinks sports help kids to become focused, disciplined, motivated for anything they choose in the future.(Svet has a husband and 2 sons. 

The powerful combination of personal swimming excellence and academic achievements make Svet a unique asset to KING.

KING 2008 Olympic biography: Svetlana KARPEVA