Noblesville High School & Swim Club (Indiana) hires Jess Preston as new head coach

The Noblesville Swim Club and Noblesville High School in Noblesville, Indiana, have announced the hiring of Jess Preston as new head coach. He replaces Aleks Fanslerwho took over the show in 2020 and left for a job at GoSwim.tv.

Preston comes from Penn High School in Mishawaka, Indiana and Irish Aquatics near South Bend, Indiana. He has coached both the boys and girls teams at Penn High School since 2008 and began as an assistant coach at Irish Aquatics in 2020.

As leader Trainer At Kingsman, he has 18 top-10, 6 top-5 and 3 state runner-up finishes. His girls teams had an overall dual meet record of 204-11-1 under his leadership and his boys teams went 194-22.

Additionally, Preston has led his teams to a total of 29 Northern Indiana Conference Championships, 26 Section Championships, 15 IHSAA Event State Champions, was named Conference Trainer of the year 13 times and IHSAA State Trainer of the year twice. In February, Penn finished runner-up to Carmel at the IHSAA girls’ and boys’ state swimming championships.

Noblesville finished 30th in the boys’ competition and 11th in the girls’ competition. The two Indiana schools are about two hours apart.

Among his most famous talents at Penn High was Lily Christianson. Christianson, a departing senior and NC State commit, was the Indiana high school state champion in both the 50 freestyle (21.72) and 100 freestyle (48.45), and also won the 100 freestyle as a junior in 2023, the 50 freestyle as a sophomore in 2022 and the 50 freestyle as a freshman in 2021.

At the US Olympic qualifiers in June, she finished 32nd in the 50 m freestyle (25.43), 35th in the 100 m butterfly (59.65), 39th in the 200 m individual medley (2:18.84), and 50th in the 100 m freestyle (56.45).

From 1999 to 2020, Preston was the head coach and assistant age group coach at PRO Swimming in Mishawaka. During his time at PRO, he led several athletes to the Indiana Age Group State Championships and record-breaking performances. In 2020, PRO Swimming merged with Irish Aquatics. In 2021, Irish Aquatics won the Indiana Swimming Long Course Senior State Championships.

Before beginning his coaching career, he swam and played baseball at Elkhart Central High School. In swimming, he broke the school records in the 500-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle. He then swam at Ball State University, where he earned honors for four years, scored individual points at the MAC Championships all four years, and was team captain his senior year.

“I am so excited to become the next head coach of the Noblesville Swim Club and the 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 achieving the highest level of success. With the continued growth and great sense of community that Noblesville has to offer, the possibilities are endless. I can’t wait to get started!”

“Swimming is an important part of our community and I am pleased that Coach Jess Preston and his family have chosen Noblesville as their next home. Not only does Jess have a great passion for swimming, but she uses it as a tool to teach student-athletes skills of leadership, discipline and personal responsibility that they can use throughout their lives. The future of swimming in Noblesville is bright,” said Leah Wooldridge, Noblesville High School Athletic Director.

Noblesville’s best swimmers currently include rising high school juniors Haddie Vohswho finished 11th in the 100 m butterfly (56.32) and 13th in the 200 m freestyle (1:52.42) at the Indiana High School State Championships in February