Growing up in Germany, Coach Wenke started swimming at seven years old. At the age of 12 she became the German Age Group National Champion in the 100 breaststroke.  At 13 she joined the German Junior National Team and competed at the European Junior Championships, placing fifth in the 100 breaststroke. She joined the German National Team at age 15 and competed for Germany for the next few years in international competitions such as European Championships, World Cup, etc.

During her high school years in Heidelberg (Germany), Wenke spent one year in Geneva (Switzerland), training and competing for Geneve Natation. At 19 Wenke moved to France to study at the University of Paris and continued to swim for one of the major clubs in France (Dauphins de Creteil), competing at French Nationals and other meets.

After receiving her College degree (DEUG) in Paris, she moved to Santa Barbara on a swimming scholarship for UCSB. There she became a two-time Big West Conference Champion, earned a BA in French Literature and later a Single Subject Teaching Credential, as well as a Master’s degree in Education.

From 1998 to 2008 Wenke worked at the Santa Barbara Swim Club coaching all levels (from novice to elite) and together with her husband Brandon helped run the team of over 400 athletes for two of those years.

Coach Wenke has coached swimmers to the highest level of Age Group and Senior swimming (Junior Olympics, All Star Swim Festival, Pacific Coast All Stars, North American Challenge Cup, Sectionals, Futures, Junior /Senior Nationals and Olympic Trials). Many of her past swimmers had successful swimming careers in College.

She has been coaching the youth swim team at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club since 2012.

As a masters swimmer Wenke qualified for the 2000 US Olympic Trials in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and held several Masters World Records, as well as five Masters World Championship titles. Wenke is an American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) level 4 certified coach.

Coach Brandon has had a long-time love of the water, going back to 1980 when he learned the joy of surfing, and the ocean. His career in Aquatics began in 1989, as a member of the opening day staff at the Carpinteria Community Swimming Pool, where he maintained employment until 2000.

In 1995, Brandon began coaching at the Santa Barbara Swim Club (SBSC), under Head Coach Ira Klein, where he assisted with the Senior Team, and coached the Masters and Novice Teams. Brandon helped grow the SBSC Novice Team from a small group of 5 swimmers to a thriving group of over 125 athletes, and a Masters Team that was bursting at the seams.

While coaching the Masters at SBSC, Brandon met his wife, Wenke (Hansen) Seider. The two of them enjoyed a great coach/athlete relationship, culminating with Wenke earning the title of 1999 Southern Pacific Masters Association (SPMA) Swimmer of the Year, and Brandon earning the 1999 SPMA Coach of the Year. During this time, Wenke broke numerous World and National Masters Records, and qualified for the USA Swimming Olympic Trials at the age of 30.

In 2002, the same year he and Wenke became married, Brandon accepted a position as the UCSB Gaucho Swim Team Sprint and Breaststroke Coach, under legendary Head Coach Gregg Wilson. He enjoyed great success, in a short period of time, including an athlete qualifying and participating at the Women’s NCAA Championships.

In 2004, Brandon left UCSB to take on the Head Coach position at the Santa Barbara Swim Club. This was an unexpected honor to lead the team where his competitive coaching career started.

Brandon has been thrilled to be assisting Coach Wenke with the Ojai Heatwaves Age Group and Senior Programs, since 2017. His love of teaching high level stroke technique is a perfect fit, to enhance the success Coach Wenke has experienced with these groups.

Coach Meg McCormick Meg is a 4th generation Ojai resident raising her 4 daughters. She has always been passionate about sports from a young age including many junior lifeguard courses. As an adult she runs as well as swims and has completed it 7 marathons in her free time. Meg is a self-taught swimmer at age 4 and even participated in swim class with her mom through the college when she was young. She later attended Ventura College after high school and swam during her time there. Meg started working at OVAC and continued to swim with her mom through the OVAC's master program with Coach Rick Geoden. Because of her prior years’ experience working with children, she began working in the OVAC Kid's Club department. Coach Elin approached her with the opportunity as a swim instructor and she jumped at the chance. The fit was perfect due to the connection with the kids through Kid's Club and her passion of wanting to be a positive role model for kids which she wished she had more of growing up. Meg completed her WSI training and taught learn-to- swim and parent child classes for years at OVAC. She discovered her niche for teaching technique and started teaching pre- swim team groups for the Ojai Heatwaves. Meg also assisted with a couple seasons of swim and water polo through Nordhoff High School and coaches as well as serves as a board member for youth track team. Meg is a certified CPR instructor and teaches American Red Cross CPR for all of the OVAC employees. Currently she coaches the first 3 levels of the swim team; Novice I, Novice II, and Junior Levels. Teaching beginners the basics is an important task and Coach Meg has helped many children stay safe in the water and progress their swim careers. It has truly become a passion for her to help kids develop fundamentals and create a strong swimming foundation that not only creates lifelong skills but is also fun! Seeing the kids progress and move up to the higher levels and set goals makes her so proud.

Elin Cheverez started swimming at age 4 and continued to swim competitively through high school in Walnut Creek, CA. She revisited the sport after becoming a member at OVAC and started swimming with the Ojai Masters. Swimming under Coach Rick Goeden , Elin enjoyed competing at Master’s meets and earned a top 10 in the 200 LCM Breastroke. In 2008 Elin started coaching under Ojai Masters coach Rick Geodon. In 2011 Elin became the Aquatic Director at OVAC and Rick Goeden passed on the youth swim team to Elin. Starting with only 8 swimmers Elin has grown the team to 60+ swimmers working with Head Coach Wenke Seider. Elin and Wenke enjoy working together to accomplish their mission of offering high quality technical training. Elin is an ASCA Level 2 Masters coach, and is so grateful to be continually learning from the incredible coaching staff of the Ojai Heatwaves and Ojai Masters. She loves to see kids progressing in a lifelong sport that offers valuable life skills, and feels lucky to be part of the Ojai Heat Waves!