Leadership
Melanie McKula — President and Chief Executive Officer
(Our fearless leader!) Current President and Chief Executive Officer for The Capitol Sea Devils. She is originally from Maryland and went to Penn State University. She currently lives in Great Falls, VA and also works as an office manager for a Title and Abstracting company in Fairfax. She has been with Sea Devils since 2004, first as a clinic coach then in the Developmental and Age Group programs.
Contact: admin@seadevils.org
Ian Handerhan — Director of Coaching: Gold/Senior coach
Ian has been with TCSD since 2008 and has worked at every level of the program and currently coaches the Select and Gold Training programs at the St Albans site. Ian also serves as the Head Swim Coach at Army Navy Country Club (10+ years) and formerly of Thomas Jefferson HSST girls and boys teams (8 years). At the latter he has coached 6 individual All-Americans (achieving over 25 All-American times) and 9 All-American relay teams bringing home 11 Conference, 5 Region, and 2 State titles. In his free time he teaches Latin and Math classes at St. Agnes School in Arlington.
Contact: Ian.handerhan@gmail.com
Peter Karl – Holton-Arms Site Coach: Age Group 3, Silver
From New Jersey and went to Ohio Wesleyan and University of Maryland. He currently lives in Silver Spring and is an avid youth program, security, and building maintenance volunteer at his Church. He is formerly a coach at Army Navy Country Club, St. John’s College High School, and B-CC High School. He Currently coaches Age Group 3 and Silver programs at Holton and St. Albans. Peter has 40 years of coaching experience and has been with the Sea Devils since 1977.
Jared Diallo — South Run Site Coach: Gold, Select, AG2 AM and Masters.
Jared started with TCSD in 2019 and has coached every group from AG2 to Gold. He is currently the Gold, Select and AG2 AM coach at South Run. Additionally, He is entering his fourth summer as Head Coach of the Fox Hunt Splash (NVSL), and has recently concluded his second season as the Assistant Coach with Robinson Swim and Dive (VHSL). In his free time you can find him on a stage somewhere or at a Sox game.
Contact: coachjared18@gmail.com
Program Coaches
Bender JCC
Theresa Vaghi - Program Coach, AG2
This is Theresa’s first year coaching SDS. Previous to SDS she’d coached for multiple teams including serving as the head coach at Bethesda Country Club for 8 summers. She is also, currently in her second year as head swim and dive coach at Walt Whitman High School, where last year she coached multiple All-American swimmers and divers, as well as bringing home a Boys Maryland State Championship. When she is not on the pool deck, she is a special education teacher with MCPS. In her free time, Theresa loves traveling, concerts, and relaxing at the beach! She is an avid DC sports fan and loves Xavier basketball.
Chelsea Hubble -
Holton-Arms
Reiley Adelson - Program Coach, Age Group 2
From Saratoga Springs, New York, Reiley is a former collegiate swimmer at Saint Michael’s College. Reiley works at the American Council of Life Insurers, and enjoys spending her evenings on the pool deck. She coached this past summer with Army Navy Country Club, and has loved to see the progress swimmers make throughout the season. Reiley is thrilled to be back for her second season with SDS!
Allie Brown - Program Coach, Age Group 1
From Springfield, PA, Allie is excited to be back for her fifth season with SDS. She is currently a second grade teacher with DCPS and a summer coach with Army Navy Country Club. She has coached every level of swimming, from learn to swim to collegiate swimming with Arcadia University. When not coaching, Allie enjoys running, swimming, and traveling.
South Run
Ricky Veatch - Program Coach: Silver
From Springfield VA, Attended and swam for West Springfield High School. Ricky is excited for his second season with TCSD. Before coaching with us he was the Head Coach at Commonwealth (NVSL) and also taught lessons and classes at South Run for Parktakes. Currently an Instructional Assistant at Annandale High School where he also served as the dive coach last winter.
Ryleigh Weight - Program Coach: Age Group 3
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Ryleigh started swimming to stay out of the desert heat but grew to love the sport. She started swimming at ten years old and ended her career as a four-year collegiate swimmer at California State University, East Bay. She began coaching in 2017 for a local summer team in Castro Valley, CA and then worked at Orinda Country Club (OCC) in Orinda, CA from 2018 to 2024 as the head coach for 7-8s and 9-10s. She helped lead OCC to their 21 consecutive league championship. Although she just moved to Virginia in May, she is excited for her first season with The Capitol Sea Devils as the AG3 coach!
Isabelle DeGraff - Program Coach: Age Group 2 / Age Group 1
From Charlotte, North Carolina, Isabelle has swam for nearly 13 years and has coached and volunteered for 6 of those years. She swam for Stingray Aquatics (later STAT) in Matthews, North Carolina and was an avid middle distance swimmer. She has been an assistant Coach for the Brandon Oaks Swim Team (GCSL) for three seasons and is the longest serving member of the team’s coaching/volunteer staff. She is currently a senior at George Mason studying law, philosophy, and criminology and is excited to spend her last year of undergrad as her first year with the Sea Devils!
Courtney Van Schagen — Assistant Program Coach: Age Group 1
Megan Grant — Assistant Program Coach: Age Group 2
Megan is excited for her first season coaching with Sea Devils! She is a Literacy Specialist/Instructional Coach and Varsity swim coach at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School. During the summer, she coaches at Army Navy Country Club. Megan loves working with swimmers of all ages and building team spirit. She grew up in Potomac, Maryland, and swam for Potomac Woods Swim Team, Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club, and Georgetown Visitation. Megan started coaching for her summer swim team and later coached for RMSC, and Montgomery Stroke and Turn Clinic. She also spent nine years teaching and coaching high school and summer league swimming in Charlottesville.
St Albans
Kelsey Magill - Program Coach, Age Group 3B, Silver
Kelsey grew up in Ocean View, Delaware and moved to DC study political communication at The George Washington University. She grew up swimming and then coaching for the Sea Colony Sharks in Bethany Beach. She has been coaching with TCSD since 2013. Outside of the pool, where she currently coaches AG3 and Silver programs at St. Albans, Kelsey lives in Glover Park and works full-time as a non-profit fundraiser for a local organization called Martha’s Table. Her happy places are on a beach, on her yoga mat, or on a plane headed somewhere tropical.
Reese Samuel - Program Coach, Select.
From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attending Howard University. He grew up swimming for Upper St Clair Highschool and eventually Howard University. Winning a state championship and Conference Championship respectively. He lives in Brookland, DC and coaches the Howard University swim team as well. He also plays competitive Call of Duty for the University, in which he also won a championship. Being captain of two swim teams, he is very adept to being a leader.
Paige Sass - Program Coach, Age Group 1
Paige grew up in country club swim leagues. She has been coaching and teaching youth swimming since 1987, the past 7 years with the Sea Devils program. From 2006-2018 she was clerk of course for the CCSDA. She lives in Alexandria and works for the USPS OIG
Holden Shatouhy - Assistant Program Coach
From Ringwood, NJ, Holden is a former collegiate swimmer at Ithaca College. He grew up swimming for the Bergen Barracudas, and before coaching with us, he was the Head Coach of the Waldwick Warriors for five years. He currently lives in D.C. and works for The Catholic University of America on their communications team while getting his MSB there.
Board
Sam Brownell, CFO
Chairman for The Capitol Sea Devils. Sam is from Silver Spring, MD and went to Loyola University in Maryland. He lives in Washington, DC and he runs a wealth management firm focused on providing family office services to high net worth families. He began swimming with the Sea Devils at age 8 and has swam under the direction of current coach Peter Karl and former coach Rory Lewis. He currently coaches Gold and Senior groups at our Wilson Location. He has coached for the Sea Devils in two different terms starting in 2006.
