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Head Coach, Scott Lemley

A former Nanook swimmer (1970 - 1973), Lemley is ready to start his third full season as the Head Coach of the Alaska Women's Swim Team. He also served as the Head Coach of an earlier team at UAF, the NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving Team from 1982 to 1987.

From 1985 through 1987, Alaska was represented at Nationals by at least one Nanook swimmer, resulting in seven All-American swims. Carl Benson, a native of Fairbanks and a West Valley High School graduate, was a four-time Division II All-American with Top 8 finishes in the 100 and 200 Yard Breaststrokes and 200 Yard IM. In his senior year he placed 3rd in the 100 Yard Breaststroke. He was voted the UAF Male Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year in 1986. Ken Chaney, a former high school teammate of Carl's, competed at the NCAAs for UAF in the 50 Yard Freestyle in 1985. Andrew Billings, a third West Valley graduate, qualified for the NCAAs in the 50, 100 and 200 Yard Freestyles in 1987. He finished in the Top 8 in all three events becoming the fastest Division II freshman in the nation.

Capping off last year's season, freshman Kelly Becker represented Alaska Swimming at the 2007 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's National Swimming & Diving Championships (Buffalo, NY). She achieved four qualifying times during the season, competed in three events and ended her first year of college swimming as an Honorable Mention All-American. With her 10th place finish in the 200 Yard Butterfly, Becker became the first swimmer to be named an All-American in the new era of college swimming in Fairbanks.

With eight returning swimmers and seven new recruits, the Nanooks have added both depth and speed to their roster. Last year's team broke into the National Rankings with a 27th place finish at NCAAs. This year could see the emergence of a Top 10 team at Nationals.

Last year's team of sixteen young women had a very successful season breaking all but one Varsity Record and moving up one place in the overall team standings at the Pacific College Swim Coaches Conference Championships. The Nanooks finished 10th in 2007 with six Nanooks scoring points in individual events. Only two Nanooks scored points in individual events at the 2006 PCSC Conference Championships. Moving up to 9th in their conference would require the Nanooks to beat the women from Seattle University who only outscored Alaska by 80 points last year (and almost 400 points the year before). Seattle University's Athletic Department recently made news by commiting to a move up to Division I status so the Nanooks have their work cut out for them this year.

Currently the senior coach for the Stingrays Swim Team, Lemley has been the Head Coach of the Fairbanks Arctic Swim Team (Fairbanks, AK), the Midnight Sun Swim Team (Fairbanks, AK), the Alaska Pacific Swim Club (Anchorage, AK), the Alaska Sports Academy Masters Swim Team (Anchorage, AK), the Barstow Sea Serpents (Barstow, CA), the Lathrop High School Boy's and Girl's Swimming & Diving Team (Fairbanks, AK) and the West Valley Boy's and Girl's Swimming & Diving Team (Fairbanks, AK).

Lemley is rated a Level 4 coach by the American Swim Coaches Association. His swimmers have achieved numerous distinctions including qualifying for the Olympic Trials (50 M Free, 1988); being American-ranked (#17, 100 M Free, 1989); finaling at Senior Nationals (12th, 100 M Free, 1989); winning an individual Junior National Championship (200 M Back, 1985); finaling in the High School Mythical National Championships (6th, 50 Y Free, 1984); being the #1 individual fundraiser in the USS Swim-a-Thon ($5645, 1986); and breaking an Unofficial World Record (The Guinness Book of World Records stopped recognizing the Marathon Relay as a viable record the week Lemley's swimmers completed 1,400,800 continuous yards. This feat was accomplished by the Fairbanks Arctic Swim Team and the Stingrays Swim Team in 1979 over the course of seven days, three and a half hours).

In his last thirty years as a club coach, Lemley has had a swimmer at the Olympic Trials, four swimmers at Senior Nationals and ten swimmers at Junior Nationals. He's also coached four Nationally-ranked age group swimmers. In addition, he's qualified relays for Junior Nationals and even managed to Nationally-rank his teams' relays in every single age group (10/under, 11/12, 13/14, 15/16 and 17/18).

In seventeen years of high school coaching, Lemley had nine high school All-Americans and twelve state champions. His Lathrop Boy's Team won the Alaska State Championships in 2003 and ended the year Nationally-ranked (11th). That same year his Girl's team was also Nationally-ranked (18th). He was voted High School Swim Coach of the Year in 1985.

Lemley has been a part of four Alaska All-Star Team Coaching Staffs (1980, 1981, 1982, 1984) and volunteered to serve Alaska Swimming as Senior Chair (2002); Coaches' Representative (1983, 1984, 1987, 1990); Editor of the Alaska Swim Guide (1988, 1990, 1991); and Records/OVC Chair (1989, 1990). In 1987 Lemley earned the Award of Excellence from ASCA. In 1989 he was the Alaska recipient of the Phillips 66 / United States Swimming Outstanding Service Award. In 2001 he was voted Alaska Swimming Senior Coach of the Year.

He's been the director of numerous camps and clinics for Northern Area Aquatics, Alaska Swimming, Southern California Swimming and United States Swimming. He's also been the director of private camps and clinics for Cecil Colwin, Dr. Alan Goldberg and Terry Laughlin (Total Immersion). Lemley was the featured speaker at the 1991 Alaska Swimming House of Delegates Annual Meeting. He's the author of "Cure Your Kick", a feature article in Fitness Swimming Magazine (May, 1995) and the inventor of the Fistglove Stroke Trainer (US Patent No 5,419,727). He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Assistant Coach, Heather King

A lifelong Alaskan, Heather King returns this fall to the Alaska Women's Swimming Coaches staff for a second year. She previously worked with Coach Lemley at Lathrop High School where they successfully coached the Boy's and Girl's Swimming & Diving Teams.

Ms King grew up immersed in the swimming world, starting her competitive swimming career as a 6-year old on the Stingrays Swim Team. By age 11 she was qualifying for and attending elite swim meets up and down the West Coast including the Northwest Section Age Group Short Course Championships (where she was a finalist in the 100 Yard Breaststroke), Western Zone Long Course Championships, Far Western Championships, Junior Nationals and, as a college freshman, Senior Nationals.

An 8-time high school All-American, Ms King was her team's MVP her junior year and MVP and Team Captain her senior year. She held several Region and State Records, most notably the Alaska High School State Record in the 100 Yard Breaststroke (1:05.74) which remained unbroken for 11 years. Her senior year she was Lathrop's Female-Athlete-of-the-Year. She's still ranked in Alaska High School's All-Time Top 12 in four different events (200 Yard Medley Relay, 200 Yard Individual Medley, 200 Yard Freestyle Relay and 100 Yard Breaststroke).

Upon graduating from high school, Ms King received a scholarship to swim for NCAA Division I Fresno State University. Her freshman year she finaled in the 100 Yard Breaststroke at the Western Athletic Conference Championships with a best time (1:04.80). After one year she left to come back to Fairbanks to pursue a degree in Child Development at UAF.

Ms King has been a lifeguard and swim instructor for the last 10 years. She was named the head coach at Lathrop for both the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons. Her swimmers won 31 individual region championships, four individual state championships and achieved High School All-American status twice.

Ms King is an assistant coach on the Stingrays Swim Team and an affiliate of Big Brothers/Big Sisters.