Swim Coach serves as Assistant Coach for World Para Championships

University of St. Thomas Swim Coach, Hanna Huston, has been selected as one of five assistant coaches to represent Team USA at the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore. This international event, which serves as the top competition for Para swimmers outside of the Paralympic Games, will take place from Sept. 21-27, and feature more than 600 athletes from more than 60 countries. Huston joins an elite coaching group supporting Head Coach Dave Modzelewski, with each member bringing top-tier experience to help guide the U.S. athletes. Huston, who holds a Level Two coaching certification, continues to make a mark in the sport, and her selection to this staff reflects her dedication to excellence and the impact she has made both at UST and beyond.

For Huston, it's not just a professional honor - it's a continuation of her passion for elevating swimmers to the highest levels of competition.

"I really like coaching para swimming," Huston said. "I like the teaching aspect - it forces you to be way more creative than when coaching non-disabled swimmers because there's impairments that athletes have that don't allow them to do certain things. Sometimes I feel like in non-disabled swimming you get stuck in one zone and you get comfortable, but coaching para swimming makes you think outside the box."

The 2025 World Championships mark the 12th edition of the event and serves as the final major international meet in the first year of the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic quad. Huston is bringing this wealth of experience to the UST swim team and is looking forward to the upcoming 2025-26 season. With 21 athletes across the men's and women's teams, Huston has high hopes for both teams, expecting a top 4 conference finish for the men and continued success for the women.

"I'm really more concerned about building the foundation of St. Thomas swimming," Huston said. "Speed is going to come when the team's close knit, and so I want to continue building the camaraderie of the team, the closeness. It makes coming to work more fun."

With the program being so young, they can continue to enjoy their underdog status as most teams do not know what to expect from the squad. But Huston knows she has diamonds in her squad. A standout is Luke Newman, who had a fantastic freshman year and hopes to build on that during his sophomore year. Two more leaders, Lucas Plato and Kelsey Elder, have high expectations for their performances this year too. Additionally, Huston has recruited a slew of incoming freshmen whom she can refine and polish during the course of this season.

"Beyond athletics, I want our swimmers to go out into the world and feel prepared, and take lessons they learned from the program into real life," Huston said. "That's my philosophy, coaching the whole person. And so hopefully they see that and I don't just see them as swimmers. They should be just who they are, without the label." For more information on UST Athletics, visitustcelts.com.