Kristy Hepp joined the Aquinas Athletic Department in the winter of 2021 and serves as the head coach of the men's and women's swim and dive programs. Hepp is the first head coach in the history of both the men's and women's swim and dive teams.
After accepting the head coaching position in 2021, Hepp quickly secured the sizable East Grand Rapids High School natatorium as the team’s home base for training and competition, with her sights set on pushing the team to become a national powerhouse. In no less than two seasons, Hepp has built up the program to include diving, significantly expanded the roster, and has already coached an individual national champion at the 2024 NAIA National Championships (Ashley McNamara, 1M Board).
In just three years, Aquinas has already had five NAIA All-Americans, one NAIA All-American Honorable Mention, five All-KCAC First Team selections, and nine All-KCAC Second Team selections. The 2023-24 season was the best season to-date in the history of the AQ swim and dive programs. The Saints set 36 new school records and had both teams finish inside the top-20 schools at NAIA Nationals. Coach Hepp was named the KCAC Men's Coach of the Year following the teams' outstanding performances on the boards and in the water, leading to the team's highest finish to date (3rd). The women also made waves by moving up three places in the KCAC standings in 2024 and all three NAIA qualifiers scoring points at the championship meet.
Academically, the men's and women's swim and dive programs have supported 13 NAIA scholar-athletes in just three short seasons.
As a collegiate athlete, Hepp was an All-American backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle specialist at Calvin University. After completing her BSN from Calvin and earning nursing license, Hepp worked as a neurology nurse in downtown Grand Rapids before returning to serve as an assistant coach with Calvin's men's and women's swimming and diving teams. During her two seasons on the Calvin staff, both Knights teams captured MIAA championships in 2016 and the women repeated as conference champions in 2017.
Pursuing her call to full-time collegiate coaching, Hepp attended Western Michigan University as a Graduate Assistant to obtain a Master’s of Science in Exercise Physiology and intern in the strength and conditioning department with WMU’s Olympic sports. This experience catapulted Hepp’s coaching career to serve as an assistant coach at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.
Coach Hepp helped CWRU tally strong finishes at the 2019-02 UAA Championships, sending five women to the 2020 NCAA Championships and earning All-American and Academic All-American honors. Case Western Reserve's men broke five new school records and the women set three program records, while the women also posted the 10th-highest team GPA (3.63) among all NCAA Division III schools.
On the rare occasion that Hepp isn’t on the pool deck, you can find her training for triathlons, cooking with her husband John, traveling with family and friends, and enjoying time with the Calvary Church body.
