The Noblesville Swim Club in Indiana and Noblesville High School jointly announced the hiring of Jess Preston as head coach beginning August 1.
Preston comes to Noblesville from Penn High School in Mishawaka, Ind., and Irish Aquatics. As head coach of the Kingsman girls and boys swim teams since 2008, he has racked up an impressive 18 top 10, six top 5, and three state runner-up finishes. His girl’s teams had an overall dual meet record of 204-11-1 and his boy’s teams have gone 194-22. In addition, Preston has led his teams to a combined 29 Northern Indiana conference championships, 26 sectional championships, 15 IHSAA event state champions, been named Conference Coach of the year 13 times and IHSAA State Coach of the Year twice. Just this past February, Preston and Penn were state runner-up to Carmel at both the girls and boys IHSAA State Swimming Championships.
“I’m beyond excited to become the next head coach of the Noblesville Swim Club and Noblesville High School girls and boys swim teams,” said Preston. “This program and the Noblesville community are so welcoming. I absolutely love that their leaders are committed to accomplishing the highest level of success. With the continued growth and great sense of community Noblesville has to offer, the possibilities are endless. I can’t wait to get started!”
In addition to high school swimming, Preston has an impressive background in USA Swimming. From 1999-2020 he served as Head Senior and Assistant Age Group Coach at PRO Swimming in Mishawaka. While at PRO he guided multiple athletes to Indiana Age Group State Championships and record-setting performances. In 2020, PRO Swimming merged with Irish Aquatics. In 2021, Irish Aquatics won the Indiana Swimming Long Course Senior State Championships.
“The hiring of Coach Preston is a big-time commitment to Noblesville Swimming and the future vision of this program,” said Lisa Conner, President of the Board of Directors Noblesville Swim Club. “We are so excited about what he will do for our program at all levels. We feel so fortunate that Coach Preston has chosen to continue his career leading our program.”
Prior to his coaching career, he swam and played baseball at Elkhart Central High School. In swimming, he broke the school records in the 500 freestyle and 400 free relays. He went on to swim at Ball State University where he was a four-year letter winner, scored individually all four years in the MAC championships, and served as team captain his senior year.
“Swimming is an important part of our community, and I am excited that coach Jess Preston and his family have chosen Noblesville as their next home. Jess not only has a strong passion for swimming but uses it as a tool to teach student athletes skills around leadership, discipline and ownership that they can utilize throughout their life. The future of Noblesville swimming looks bright,” said Noblesville High School Athletic Director Leah Wooldridge.