Contact Our Coaches
The first point of contact for swim team question should go to the
Parent Representative; however, please feel free to
email our coaches with any questions/concerns you may have.
Head Coach: Erica Sorensen
Assistant Coach: Chris Bendix
Assistant Coach: Danica Mock
Sharkie Coach: Alison Jensen
Swim Team Head Coach: Erica
Hello Somerset Rec Club!
My name is Erica Sorensen, and I am so excited to be the head coach of the swim team again this year! I started my swimming career at the age of six when I joined Highline Swim Club. I swam for Highline until it merged with the Kent Area Dolphins to form KING in the late '90's. I continued swimming for KING until I was 17 years old, and also swam for Kennedy High School. During my junior year we placed third overall at the State Championships. In addition, I swam for Kent Swim & Tennis Club (KSTC) during the summers. After graduating, I also coached KSTC for three summers during college. I could not stay away from the pool!
After high school, I went to Whitman College where I majored in biology and swam on the varsity swim team. My junior and senior year we placed third overall at the Northwest Conference Championships held at the end of the collegiate swim season. I graduated in the Spring of 2007 and now work at St. Thomas School in Medina, where I am an Instructional Assistant. I am also an assistant coach at Issaquah Swim Team year-round. And now I am finishing my Masters in Teaching at Seattle Pacific University.
I am so excited to be involved with summer league swimming again! It is such a positive way to spend the summer, and I look forward to meeting and coaching each and every one of your children. Please come introduce yourselves to me whenever you can! Here's to a great season, Stingrays!!
Erica Sorensen
Assistant Coaches
Chris Bendix: Assistant Coach
My name is Chris Bendix and I am thrilled to an Assistant Coach again this year! My swimming career started when I was 7 years old at the Samena
Swim and Tennis Club. I swam with Samena for 7 years, stopping at the age of 14 to focus my efforts on Club swimming. I started swimming
with the Bellevue Club Swim Team when I was 8 years old and still hop in the pool to train with them every now and then. In June, 2008, I
graduated from Eastside Catholic High School, where I was a four-year Varsity swimmer and two-year captain. I was a 3A State finalist in
the 500 freestyle my sophomore, Junior, and Senior years.
I am finishing my second year at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington and plan to major in either Philosophy or English and then go to graduate school. I finished my second season with the Whitman Varsity swim team in mid-February with a great Northwest Conference Championship meet, at the King County Aquatic Center, making finals in all three of my events and getting all best-times. I’m super excited for next season to drop even more time! Aside from swimming I enjoy a variety of other things. I joined the Whitman Cycling team, which started up right at the end of the swim season. I love music, except pop and western, and have been playing some instrument since I was 7, when I started playing piano. I started playing drums in 7th grade and I have never stopped.
I am very excited to have the opportunity to pass on some of the tremendously valuable lessons I have learned from my many, wonderful coaches, and to add my own ideas and insights to the sport. I believe that with the right attitude, good coaching, and, most importantly, a supportive atmosphere, swimming is the best sport in the world!
Danica Mock: Assistant Coach
Hi Stingrays! My name is Danica Mock, and I’m thrilled to be working with the Somerset Swim Team again this summer!
I started swimming as a Sharkie on Somerset Swim Team when I was 6 years old and continued swimming for the Stingrays through the next 12 summers. When I was 13, I joined Bellevue Club Swim Team and started swimming year-round there as well for the next four years. Last spring, I graduated from Newport High School, where I also swam for four years on the NHS swim team. I have been working at Somerset Rec Club for the past four summers as a lifeguard, volunteer, intern, and assistant coach, and loved every minute of it!
Currently, I am just finishing up my sophomore year at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, where I plan to major in Business and minor in Music. I still swim whenever I can, and am also a member of the colorguard with Tulane’s Marching Band.
Somerset Swim Team was always the highlight of my summer, and I’m excited to still be involved! Summer league swim team is a great way to spend the summer, and I look forward to a great season with all of you!!
Alison Jensen: Sharkies Coach
Hey Somerset! My name is Alison Jensen, and I’m excited to be a coach for Somerset again this year! I started swimming as an 8 and under when I was 6 years old. Last year, I graduated from Newport High School, where I also swam for four years and was captain my senior year. I am finishing up my freshman year at the University of Washington. I have been working at the Somerset Rec Club for the past 4 summers as a lifeguard, volunteer and swim lessons teacher. Somerset Swim Team is consistently the best part of my summer and I’m glad to be working with the team this year.
