Coaches
Dom Nouwens has served as Head Coach of the Blue Ridge Barracudas since 2025. In addition to leading the swim team, Dom is the Blue Ridge Pool Director and a long-time presence in the local swimming community.
Dom grew up swimming in Shoreline and competed through high school, where he served as team captain and earned All-Wesco First Team honors. He later returned to the sport as a coach, working with several neighborhood summer teams before expanding into club and high school coaching. Dom is currently the Head Coach at Ingraham High School and serves as a High Performance Coach at Excel Swim Club.
Dom’s coaching philosophy centers on meeting swimmers where they are and helping them grow in confidence, skill, and love of the sport. He is known for creating a positive, energetic environment that challenges swimmers to improve while keeping swim team fun and community-focused. Dom is deeply committed to the Blue Ridge community and takes pride in helping every swimmer — from first-timers to experienced competitors — reach their potential.
Sophia Salentine returns for her third season as a Blue Ridge assistant coach. She grew up around the Blue Ridge pool and spent 13 summers swimming with the Barracudas, building many of the memories that make the team so special. Sophia has worked many summers as a Blue Ridge lifeguard, and is currently the Pool Manager.
One of her favorite moments was tying with her best friend for second place in the 50 fly at All Cities when Blue Ridge hosted in 2019. She also fondly remembers the traditions that define the team – from screaming in the power circle before relays, to jumping in the pool after the final meet of the season (and trying to push the coaches in), to swimming relays with teammates who became her closest friends. Celebrating meet wins with donuts and playing games like sharks and minnows are all part of what made Blue Ridge feel like home.
As a swimmer, Sophia earned the team’s All City award and holds multiple individual and relay team records. She also swam at Seattle Prep and is currently a student at the University of San Diego, where she studies Education and Psychology and serves as President of the USD Club Swim Team.
Sophia plans to return to Seattle to pursue a Master’s in Education and is interested in working in the ABA field. As a coach, she is most excited to get to know each swimmer and help them build confidence both in and out of the water. She is passionate about creating a strong sense of community and making practices something swimmers look forward to – and leave smiling.
Cooper McKenny returns for his third season as a Barracudas assistant coach. He grew up swimming with Blue Ridge – 13 years as a Barracuda – and has spent the last six summers working at the pool. Few people know the Blue Ridge pool as well as he does.
As a swimmer, Cooper was a standout at Bishop Blanchet High School, swimming varsity all four years, serving as captain for two, and qualifying for state twice and All Cities twice.
Ask Cooper about his favorite Blue Ridge memory and you'll get a two-part answer: breaking the 200 freestyle relay record as a swimmer, and then watching the senior boys break that same record while he was standing on the pool deck as a coach. Not a bad full-circle moment.
What keeps Cooper coming back is the community – the buddy system, the staff show, the power circle before relays. He credits those traditions and the role models he had growing up at Blue Ridge for shaping the kind of coach he wants to be: someone who helps make the team tighter, more successful, and more fun for everyone in it.
Off the pool deck, Cooper is heading into his senior year at Gonzaga University studying Computer Science, and fills his free time with running, hiking, aggressive intramural competition, and a steady diet of sports and movies.
He's stoked to be back. So are we.
Matthew Williams is returning for his second year as a Barracudas assistant coach. He has been part of the Blue Ridge swim team since he was five years old and grew up swimming with the Barracudas. Matthew is currently a student at George Fox University, where he is studying Kinesiology and plays football.
Matthew holds the Blue Ridge team record in the 18&U Boys 50 Yard Breaststroke and earned the team’s “All City” award for scoring the most points at the City Championship meet. Matthew is also a three-time state qualifier.
One of his favorite swim team memories is racing on a relay team alongside his brother — a moment that reflects the strong sense of family and community that makes Blue Ridge special.
As a coach, Matthew hopes to create an environment where swimmers genuinely enjoy coming to practice each day, feel supported in their development, and build confidence both in and out of the water. He brings competitive experience and a deep familiarity with the team’s culture to his coaching role.
Olivia Kim is joining the coaching staff for her first season, bringing eleven years as a Barracuda swimmer and five summers of lifeguarding and swim instruction at the Blue Ridge pool.
As a swimmer, Olivia was a two-time state qualifier and holds the Blue Ridge individual medley record.
What she remembers most about her time as a Barracuda: the Saturday practices where she pushed herself alongside older age groups, the buddy group gifts she looked forward to making every year, and the friendships that outlasted every season. She came back because she wants to be on the other side of that experience – the coach who makes it click for someone the way it clicked for her.
At Boston University, Olivia is studying Behavior and Health with an eye toward occupational therapy. Outside the classroom she competes with the BU Triathlon Team and sings with an a cappella group, because apparently one team wasn't enough.
She's excited up to meet this year's swimmers and help them find their stride – whatever that looks like for each of them.
Adam Walker joins the Barracudas coaching staff for his first season, bringing with him nearly 14 years of history with the team. Adam moved into the Blue Ridge neighborhood at age six and has been part of the swim team ever since – though by his own admission, he wasn't an immediate convert. The Blue Ridge community changed that, and the Barracudas swim team became one of the defining parts of his Blue Ridge experience.
If Adam's name sounds familiar, it should – he's a fixture in the team record books, including a standout memory from his 10-and-under days when his 200 freestyle relay team broke the All City record.
Adam has spent the last five years on staff at the Blue Ridge pool as a lifeguard and swim instructor, so while this is his first season on the coaching side, he's anything but new to the pool deck or the community.
Outside of Blue Ridge, Adam is heading into his sophomore year at Colorado College, where he's pursuing a degree in Computer Science and stays busy with club ultimate frisbee, club soccer, and as many intramural sports as he can squeeze in.
He's fired up for the summer – and we're glad to have him.
