We are here to support your needs. If your questions are related
to workouts, meets, events, goal setting, and other swimming
related needs, please contact one of the coaches. For all questions
related to administrative, such as dues or policy issues, please
contact Coach
Cliff.
Cliff Murray is the Head Coach and owner of Northern Lights Swim
Club. Coach Cliff has been the head coach of NLSC since
August of 1998. In that time he has seen the club nearly
double in size and has coached the club to dozens of state
championships. Coach Cliff is the 4 time winner of Alaska
Swimming's Senior Coach of the Year award and currently coaches the
Silver Boys, UAA Novice, and Gold Distance groups as well as
administering the Sabre Stroke School.
Cliff was born in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1970. In 1977 he
began swimming competitively on the Eielson Flyers near his
mother's job as a teacher on Eielson Air Force Base. At 12 he
moved to the North Pole Aquatics Club which was closer to his North
Pole home. During his 8th grade year he began swimming on the
Fairbanks Arctic Swim Team in Fairbanks. Cliff competed for
North Pole High School all four years of high school and was
captain for the last three. Cliff retired from swimming after
the Alaska Junior Olympics his senior year in 1988.
Cliff began coaching in Fairbanks in 1991. His first
coaching job was as assistant coach at West Valley High
School. In November of 1991 he became the assistant coach of
Midnight Sun Swim Team in Fairbanks. In August of 1993 he
became the Head Coach for both West Valley and Midnight Sun Swim
Team.
In addition to his duties at NLSC, Cliff is also the Head Coach of
the East Anchorage High School Swim/Dive team. Under his
leadership the East High Thunderbirds won their first men's state
title in fall of 2007.
In his spare time Coach Cliff enjoys fishing, spending time at his
cabin, and hanging out with his dog JD.
Coach Matt Hanley is the Head Coach of Northern Lights Swim Club
Mat-Su (January 2007-Present). He began his work with NLSC in
October of 1997, where he was a swim instructor for the
club’s Learn To Swim program. He began coaching for
NLSC in the fall of 1999 where he coached the team’s Novice
Group. In 2000, Matt began coaching a combined Novice/Bronze
group and was hired as NLSC’s Assistant Gold Coach under Head
Coach Cliff Murray, a position he held until January of 2002.
In the fall of 2004 Matt returned to NLSC as an Assistant Gold
Coach under Gold Coach Ben Kitchen and continued in that position
until January 2007. In 2007 Matt moved to Palmer, AK, to work
as NLSC’s Head Coach of the new NLSC Mat-Su branch. In
addition to Club coaching Matt has worked as an Assistant Coach for
Service High School Swimming and Diving for six years (2000, 2002 -
2006) and Head Coach of Bartlett High School Swimming and Diving
for one year (2001).
Matt began his relationship with swimming in August of 1993, when
he joined the Lathrop High School Swimming and Diving Team.
He began swimming club in November of that year under Midnight Sun
Swim Team Head Coach Cliff Murray. Matt swam for MSST Under
Cliff until the fall of 1998. In 1997 Matt began swimming for
the University of Alaska Anchorage. He swam two years on
schollarship until the swimming program was cut from UAA
athletics. He attended NCAA Division II Nationals in 1998 and
1999, where he finished as an All American (Honorable Mention) in
the 200 IM and 200 Brst, both years. When the collegiate
program was cut, Matt continued his swimming career, swimming for
NLSC under Head Coach Cliff Murray, until the spring of 2000 when
he traded in his goggles for a stopwatch.
Matt will begin as Wasilla High School’s Head Swim Coach in
August of 2008.
Coach Ben Kitchen has been with the Northern Lights
Swim Club since starting as a swim instructor in 1996.
Currently the Head Gold Coach, Ben has worked with every level of
the team during his tenure. " I am so blessed to have
been able to work with the state’s top swimmers year in and
year out." says Kitchen. He is the 2007/2008 Senior coach of
the year, an award given by his peers in the Alaska Swimming
community.
A former high school and collegiate swimmer with over 24 years
combined swimming /coaching experience, Kitchen continues to push
the senior athletes of Northern Lights towards bigger and brighter
things.
Liz
Odell is the head coach for the silver girls group. She started
swimming for NLSC in junior high and had Cliff as her coach. She
swam 4 years for Service High School and was team captain her
senior year, where she earned a state championship and All-American
honors under the direction of Coach Ben. After graduating from
high school, Coach Liz became the assistant coach for the Novice
group. She left Anchorage for a year and when she came back in the
summer of 2004, she started coaching the Novice and Bronze groups
full time. In the summer of 2009 Liz became the head coach
for the silver girls group.
Liz's
favorite part of coaching is seeing the teammates on NLSC develop
friendships. She knows from her own experiences with NLSC that
these friendships will last a lifetime.
In
addition to coaching, Liz recently graduated with a BA in Education
and is attending graduate school at APU where she is working toward
a Master of Arts in Teaching. She is married to Shawn and they have
two boys, Tyler and Jackson.In her spare time, Liz swims with a Masters team
and enjoys hiking, fishing, traveling and being with family and
friends.
Christine, aka Coach Chris, was born in Elizabeth City, North
Carolina. She grew up a Coast Guard brat and has lived all
over the United States. Christine found her love for swimming in
California and spent many summers at the community pool. Her
competitive swimming began when she was 11 years old after moving
to Florida. Christine swam for the Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club
for 6 years until graduating from high school in 1988.
Christine graduated from Brigham Young University in 1993 with a
bachelor of science in Recreation Management Administration. Moving
back to Florida she began teaching swim lessons for the American
Red Cross. Later she moved on to be a lifeguard, swim
instructor, swim coach and aerobics instructor for the Tampa Metro
YMCA. September 2005, Christine and her family decided to move
to Alaska. Christine never thought she would work at a pool again.
January 2006, she read an ad for a swim coach postion for the
Palmer Polar Bears. A little over a year of coaching for the the
Palmer Polar Bears, Christine became a part of the Northern Lights
Swim Club Mat-Su family when the two clubs merged. She also works
as a substitute teacher at the local middle and high schools.
Christine is married to Perry Morgan. She has 5 wonderful
children Christopher 15, William 13, Spencer 10, Makenna 8, and
Zachary 5. Christine enjoys spending time with her family,
long distance running and looking forward to participating in
triathlons again.
