Who's going to take over the Penn swim coach vacancy? Here's who

SOUTH BEND — The musical chairs of the local high school swimming coaching world continued Wednesday, when veteran South Bend Riley coach John VanDriessche moved to Penn High School.

The opening at Penn lasted 24 hours — at least, publicly. On Tuesday, longtime Kingsmen coach Jess Preston was named the new coach at Noblesville High School just north of Indianapolis.

VanDriessche had been boys swimming head coach at Riley since 2000, adding girls head coach duties last season.

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Under VanDriessche the Wildcats' boys program was team state runner-up in 2002 and 2003, in addition to having three swimmers winning individual state titles — Andy Wray in the 100-yard breaststroke in 2004, David Cavadini in the 50 freestyle in 2005 and Christopher Bartmess in the 100 breast in 2024.

The 200 freestyle relay teams also won state titles in 2002 and 2007.

VanDriessche was named the Indiana High School Swimming Coaches Association State Coach of the Year this winter, as the Wildcat boys finished sixth as a team for a second straight season. He finished with a 272-50-1 boys dual meet record at Riley, winning seven Northern Indiana Conference and nine sectional titles.

“I’m excited to take on this new challenge and opportunity,” VanDriessche said in a press release. “Penn High School is one of the premier swimming programs in the state, and I feel grateful to have been selected to lead this team. I look forward to building on their success and plan to make Penn High School the top swimming program in Indiana.”

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VanDriessche takes over a Penn program that had runner-up finishes at both the girls and boys swimming state finals last year.

“Coach VanDriessche is an elite High School Coach, as his 2024 Indiana State Coach of the Year Award can attest to, but more importantly, he understands and embraces the importance of education-based athletics,” Penn athletic director Jeff Hart said in the press release. “(He) has had an undeniable positive impact on the historic success of the South Bend Riley swim program over the last 20-plus years, and his passion for developing fast, mentally-tough, team-first swimmers at both the high school and club level will be a perfect fit for the Penn athletic family.”

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Who's going to take over the Penn swim coach vacancy? Here's who