Ken Heis has been the head coach of the City of Mason's Manta Rays since inception in 2003. 

Coaching Highlights:

• Developed elite swimmers, including:
  • 50+ Ohio High School State Champions
  • 30 Olympic Trial Qualifiers
  • 7 National Junior Team members, 2 National Team Members, 1 Olympian
• Led the Manta Rays to:
  • USA Summer Junior National Team Champions in 2017, 2018, 2019 (3rd), and 2025
  • USA Winter Junior National Team Champions in 2017 & 2018
  • ISCA Junior National Cup Team Champions in 2017 & 2018
• Team USA coaching positions:
  • 2018 USA National Junior Team Camp (Olympic Training Center)
  • 2019 Team USA Mare Nostrum team - Head Coach (Spain & France)
  • 2019 FINA World Junior Championships in Budapest (Assistant Coach)
  • 2023 World Aquatics World Junior Championships in Israel (Head Men's Coach)
• United States Olympic Committee Coach Leadership Program
• Ohio Swimming Coach of the Year: 2007, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, & 2024 
• SwimSwam USA Club Coach of the Year - HM - 2020

Prior Experience:

• Head Coach, Aiken-Augusta Swim League, 2000-2003 (Augusta, GA)
• Assistant Coach, Clemson University 1998-2000 |  Head Coach, Anderson Swim Team (Anderson, SC)

Certifications and Leadership:

• American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) Level 5 Certified Coach, ASCA Board of Directors (2019-2022)
• Central Zone Senior Sectional Committee Member, Ohio Senior Committee Member (former)

Swimming Career:

• Three-time Ohio High School State qualifier, 22-time All-American, Olympic Trials qualifier
• NCAA D-III National Record Holder,16-time NCAA D-III Champion
• Turpin High School Athletic Hall of Fame, Kenyon College Athletic Hall of Fame

Education and Personal:

• Bachelor's degree in Economics with a concentration in Law & Society, Kenyon College '98
• Lives in Terrace Park with his wife, Jeni, and children Quinn (18), Corbin (15), and Rorie (10)

I grew up in the Cincinnati area, attending Sycamore schools.  I started swimming for the Flying Fish when I was 8 and continued through high school where I was an All-American swimmer and Jr. National Qualifier.  I attended Bowling Green State University where I was a four year scholarship swimmer. I have a Bachelor of Science in Technology with a degree in Visual Communications Technology.

Due to the love of the sport, I started coaching with the Sycamore Flying Fish upon college graduation assisting with the various groups, 14 & under before settling into the lead coach of the 8 & under age group.  I started with the Mason Manta Rays in the spring of 2009, working with 9 & under and 11-14 year old swimmers. 

I have always enjoyed working with children and have a special place in my heart for children with needs.  I was a para professional at Mason City schools for 8 years in specialized classrooms for 2nd - 6th grade students with moderate to severe autism.

I resided in Mason since 2003 with my husband and three daughters. We have all been a part of the Mason Manta Family.  All 3 of our daughters were Rays swimmes and my husband is a Rays official. 

Logan began coaching with the Manta Rays in the fall of 2021 and has served as lead coach for both Prep 1/Prep 2 and now Senior 2. 

From 2021-2024, as head of Prep 1/Prep 2, Logan guided athletes to the 2023 FINA World Junior Championships, USA Swimming's No. 1 National Age Group Rankings (11-12, 13-14), three Ohio LSC Records, Winter Junior Nationals, Speedo Sectionals, and multiple Ohio Junior Championships.

In his current role leading Senior 2, Logan has coached swimmers to US Open, Speedo Summer Junior Nationals, and Winter Junior Nationals. Beyond the pool deck, he has served as the Southwest Ohio Representative on the Ohio Swimming Age Group Committee for the past 3 years.

Before joining Mason, Logan was the head coach of Donner Swim Club and Columbus North High School (Girls & Boys) in Columbus, IN for 5 years. At Columbus North he guided the Bullfrogs to 6 top 26 team finishes at the IHSAA State Finals, a Sectional Team Championship, produced multiple state medalists and NISCA All-Americans, and earned Sectional & Conference coach of the year honors twice.

With Donner Swim Club, Logan oversaw the teams membership growth from 200 to 365 members, directed the Frog Swim Lessons program which provided more than 600 swim lessons annuallyl to local youth, and developed multiple junior and senior national qualifiers, including five athletes who advanced to Division 1 collegiate programs. He was also selected as Head Coach the 2017 Indiana Swimming Age Group Elite Camp, and served as an Assistant Coach at both the 2016 Age Group and 2018 Senior Development Camps.

Prior to Donner Swim Club, Logan returned to his alma mater, Southridge Aquatic Raider Gators (SARG) Swim Club and Southridge High School from 2015-2016. There, he coached all age groups and helped the team grow its membership from 25 to 70 members.  

Logan is a graduate of Indiana University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology with a minor in Psychology. He competed for the Hoosiers for one season before transitioning into a student-volunteer coaching role for the next three. During this time, he was selected as a personal coach for the USA Swimming National Team (2014-16), representing Cody Miller, and contributed to the development of NCAA Champions, NCAA All Americans, and B1G Conference Champions.

Outside of coaching, Logan enjoys spending time with his family, being outdoors, archery, fishing, sports conversations, and gaming with friends.

A lifelong fan of the Indianapolis Colts and Indiana pacers, he currently lives in West Chester with his wife, Lindsay, son Liam (4), daughter Lilah (1), cat Daryl, and goldendoodle Toby.

Emilie has worked with the Manta Rays on and off for over a decade. Since returning to the Rays in the fall of 2019, Emilie has resumed coaching the High Performance group with head coach Ken Heis. In the summer of 2022, she was promoted to Head Age Group Coach of the senior program and oversees the execution of GAIN dry land through out the program.

Prior to her return to Mason, Emilie spent 2.5 years in Austin, TX working under Eddie Reese, University of Texas men's head swimming coach, and his post-graduate athletes. The group consisted of several Olympic, World Championship, and Pan Pacific Games medalists. During her time there, she got to work closely with USA Swimming National Team staff members managing athlete grants and training/compeition plans. 

From the fall of 2015 through the spring of 2017, Emilie was recruiting coordinator and assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin. She worked primarily with the sprinters and breaststrokers and flyers. During her two seasons with the Badgers, she helped recruit the 4th ranked women's class of 2016, coached national team members, and multiple NCAA All-Americans. Emilie returned to the Rays briefly in the summer of 2015, the same season that Ashley Volpenhein became the Manta Ray to be named to the National Junior Team. Prior to this, she spent a season as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech where her primary responsibilities were recruiting and coaching the IM and sprint groups.

From the winter of 2011 through fall of 2014, she worked with the City of Mason Manta Rays in various roles from teaching swim lessons, to working with 12 & unders and national level athletes.

Emilie went to Towson University in Maryland where she served as women's team captain her sophomore year, won three team conference titles, and set the school record in the 200 back. She majored in International Studies and Cultural Anthropology. She lives in Glendale with her dog Tamba and her cat Foster.

Todd joined the Manta Rays in the fall of 2004. He started his coaching career in 1991 as an assistant for the Milford Area Swim Team (MAST). In 1993, he accepted the Head Age Group Coach position for MAST and helped build the team from 60 swimmers to 125 swimmers. While at MAST, he coached his swimmers to National Top 16 rankings. In 1998, Todd accepted the Head Coach position at the Clermont YMCA where he also served as Aquatics Supervisor. While at Clermont, Todd coached Ohio High School State qualifiers and top 8 finishers, as well as YMCA National qualifiers and top 8 finishers. He also coached his first High School All-American while at the YMCA. In 2000, Todd left the YMCA and took the Assistant Head Coach position with the Northern Kentucky Clippers. There, he worked with swimmers 13 years and older with a focus on the distance swimmers. While with the Clippers, Todd helped coach Ohio and Kentucky High School state qualifiers and champions, numerous Top 16 swimmers, Ohio Age Group State champions, Sectional champions and Senior National qualifiers.

Todd was a member of the first swimming and water polo teams at Milford High School. He graduated from Northern Kentucky University with a B.A. in Political Science in 1998. He is currently an ASCA Certified Level 4 coach and has served as the chair of Ohio Swimming's Age Group Committee, Technical Planning Chair, and is currently serving as General Chair for Ohio Swimming. In his free time, Todd enjoys spending time with his family and playing or watching sports. He resides in Batavia with his wife Katie, daughters Josie, Jossalyn, and Juliana . Todd coaches multiple groups and helps with swim meet administration. 

Katie began coaching with the Manta Rays in the fall of 2010.  She started out coaching ages 4-18 for the Windwood Swim and Tennis Club in the Summers 2004-2008.  After graduating from the University of Evansville, Katie stayed as the assistant swim coach for the Purple Aces for the 2007-2008 season.  She then returned to Cincinnati and coached with Cincinnati Aquatic Club for 2 years before joining the Manta Rays coaching staff in 2010. Katie is the lead coach of the Challenge 2 group and also acts as the registration liason for the team.

Katie grew up in Cincinnati and competed for the Blue Ash YMCA and Lakota West High School before earning her scholarship to swim for the University of Evansville Purple Aces.   At Evansville, Katie competed all four years and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education.  Katie completed the Haine's City Florida Ironman 70.3 and Louisville IRONMAN in 2015.

A former head coach at Miami University, Centerville High School and with the WTRC Sharks club team, Davis brings 35 years of coaching experience to the Manta Ray program.  

Serving as the head swimming and diving coach at Centerville High School since 1996, Davis boasts a wealth of success in the prep ranks. During his tenure, Davis guided the Elks to 12 conference championships and 12 sectional titles. With the women's team, Davis' squads won two Southwest District championships and finished as the district runner-up five times, each coming in the past seven seasons. In his finest season with the Elks, Davis led his women's squad to the 2004 Ohio Division I State Championship.

Centerville swimmers broke all but two school records under Davis' watch, and he mentored state champions, state record holders and numerous All-Americans and Academic All-Americans. 

Also a successful club coach, Davis worked as the head coach of the WTRC Sharks from 1992-2007. Helping the program grow from 30 to 200 swimmers, Davis mentored numerous U.S. Open Champions, sectional champions, junior national and senior national finalists and one Olympic Trials semifinalist. He primarily served as the coach of the Sharks' senior group, which is for all high-school aged swimmers. The Sharks have been recognized as a Silver Medal Club of Excellence by USA Swimming.

Prior to working at Centerville and with the WTRC Sharks, Davis served as the head age group coach at the Kettering YMCA from 1986-1992.

A native of St. Marys, Ohio, Davis earned his bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Dayton. He has earned his Level 4 coaching license from the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA). 

Coach Amy started her swimming career through summer league at 6 years old in Atlanta and never looked back. From there she started swimming competitively year round at 10 years old in St. Louis and Dallas, then swam for University of Arizona.  

She has coached all age groups from the 6&u through High School. Every age has its own unique set of challenges and rewards that keeps coaching exciting. 

Amy has been coaching with the Manta Rays since 2015 and has been a Team Ohio Zone coach (‘16-‘17-‘18). 

Mark is an assistant coach with the High Performance Group as well as the head coach of the Mason High School Swim Team. Born and raised in Akron, Mark graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 1980.  He coached in the Youngstown area for three years, then moved on to coach St. Xavier High School from 1983-1988.  He then moved onto Sycamore High School where he was the head High School Coach for 15 years & led the girl’s team to a State Championship in 1992.  He moved onto the Mason School District in the fall of 2003. Mark is a retired Physical Education teacher. Mark and his wife Jackie have 4 four grown children and 3 grandchildren. They reside in the Mason.

Hi, my name is Mckinley Davis I am an assistant with Senior 2. I have been coaching here at mason for 6. I swam for two club swim teams in the Ohio region for 14 years. I got my coaching career started at Oxford swim and dive team in the summer of 2015 and coached there tell the end of the summer of 2017. At the beginning of the 2018 I started working at Mason Manta Rays with the eight and under all the way up to the senior level groups. The last three years I have been working with the Senior 2 and helping with other groups.

Carrie started her swimming career at the age of 6 and swam competitively for Countryside YMCA, Blue Ash YMCA, Normandy Swim Club, and Mt. Notre Dame High School.  After graduating from Bowling Green State University, Carrie taught in Cincinnati Public and Lakota Schools and coached for Sycamore High School, Normandy Swim Club, and Kenwood Country Club.   
This is Carrie's fifth year coaching for the Manta Rays and she helps coach the Discovery Groups.
Carrie is also a preschool teacher.  Carrie lives in Symmes Township with her husband Mike and their three children who all swim for the Manta Rays. 

Coach Sabrina started swimming when she was four years old at Wyoming Swim Club. Growing up, she swam for the Powel Crosley Tigersharks and Cincinnati Pepsi Marlins. After graduating from Wyoming High School, she attended and swam for THE Ohio State University where she was a member of the women’s Big Ten Championship team. Go Bucks!
 

While in college, she coached at Wyoming Swim Club and Wyoming Municipal Pool during the summers. After graduating, she taught in North College Hill and coached at PCY. Next stop was head coach at Indian Hill Club where her own children discovered their love of swimming. Sabrina then joined the Sycamore Flying Fish as the lead coach for the 9-10 age group for a few years. Finally, she and her own swimmers landed at the City of Mason Manta Rays and Coach Sabrina has been a coach here since 2011!  She is the co-lead coach with Coach Heather of the Imagination 2 group.

  Debby grew up in Portsmouth, Ohio, swimming with the Shawnee Aquatic Club. She attended Asbury University, as a dual sport athlete in tennis and swimming. She was an NAIA National qualifier while swimming at Asbury University. Over the last 20+ years, she has coached with USA Swim Clubs, Summer Teams  and YMCA Teams in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Debby coaches the Exploration group and assists with Imagination 1. She is also the Head Swim Coach for the Rec Rays Summer Swim Team. 

Angie started swimming for a summer swim team in Northern Indiana at the age of 6. She continued on to swim year round for the Michiana Marlins next. She completed her competitive swimming after 4 years at Purdue University. She has coached many ages over the years and has recently returned to the pool deck with the Mason Manta Rays. 

Coach Kait is not new to the Mason Manta Rays, she swam on the team from 2006-2012. She also swam for the Mason Middle School and High School swim teams as well as played a year of water polo. Coach Kait has always been in or around the pool her whole life. She has spent 4 years teaching swim lessons for the Mason Community Center's SwimAmerica program. 

Kevin Rachal began his coaching career in 1996 at the Washington Township Rec Center under current Manta Ray coach Mark Davis. After coaching the Sharks, Kevin went on to swim for the University of Cincinnati and shortly after began coaching with the Cincinnati Aquatic Club in the role of head Age Group coach. During this tenure Kevin developed many Ohio Age Group state champions, Ohio State Record holders, Ohio OHSAA state champions and was even awarded Ohio Age Group Coach of the Year in 2002. He also led CAC to consecutive second place finishes at the Ohio JO meet. Kevin was promoted to Associate Head Coach in 2010 until 2021 and was the senior performance coach from 2022-2023. 

In 2009 Kevin worked with future Bronze and Gold Medalist David Plummer as his personal coach. That year, David posted two times that were fast enough to make the 2008 Olympic team.

Kevin also enjoys giving back to the swimming community serving as the Ohio Age Group Vice Chair from 2016-2022 notably helping guide Ohio Swimming through two seasons of covid while making several improvements to Ohio Swimming, Inc.

When away from the pool Kevin enjoys hiking with his wife Cristi, golfing with his son Jackson, and swimming with his youngest son Thomson.

Kevin has had the opportunity to work with every level of athlete from novice to Olympic Gold Medalist.  He is looking forward to working alongside the rest of the City of Mason Manta Ray coaching staff and assisting Manta Ray swimmers achieve their goals.

With over a decade of coaching experience including three years as head coach for a USA Swimming club team, Debbie has built a reputation as a results-driven leader dedicated to developing swimmers and achieving competitive excellence. She has successfully coached athletes ranging from elementary to high school athletes, fostering both individual growth and team cohesion at every level.

Debbie’s coaching philosophy emphasizes the mastery of fundamentals, recognizing that strong technical foundations are essential for unlocking an athlete’s full potential. Her ability to nurture swimmers at all levels has made her a leader in competitive swimming by consistently driving exceptional results across multiple programs.

Under her guidance, athletes have consistently surpassed personal time goals, earned Junior Olympic (JO) qualifications, and met or exceeded USA Swimming time standards. Her teams have celebrated numerous podium finishes, broken personal and program records, and excelled at regional and state competitions.

Throughout her career, Debbie has created a culture of discipline, hard work, and positivity, resulting in high-pressure meet successes. However, here greatest satisfaction comes from mentoring young athletes to excel both in the pool and in life.

Passionate about the sport of swimming and committed to excellence, her mission is to inspire swimmers to pursue their dreams, exceed competitive milestones, while building a legacy of success, perseverance, and teamwork.