Rachel’s love for swimming began when she joined her local YMCA team during middle school. She quickly realized swimming was the only sport she wanted to continue with through high school which is when she joined Excel Aquatics in Nashville. During her time on Excel, she qualified for the TN High School State Championship meet every year in the 200 and 500 free, placed top 10 at state regions, qualified for the Southeastern USA Swimming Championships in the 1650, and competed in numerous open water events. She attended Western Kentucky University where she co-founded the triathlete club and graduated in 2011 with a degree in Public Relations and Political Science. Rachel ended up working in politics and met her husband, Tyler, on Capitol Hill. They now live in Hamilton, VA with their two children. After her political career and becoming a stay-at-home mom, Rachel found her way back to aquatics as a swim instructor at the Ida Lee Recreation Center in March of 2024. Since being back in the pool, Rachel picked up where she left off and has been actively training and competing in open water events. She even swam from the Golden Gate bridge to Alcatraz this past August! Rachel joined the Machine Aquatics coaching staff at Ida Lee in March of 2025. She loves being back in the competitive world of swimming and is eager to bring her passion for the sport to the Eagles Community.
Letter from the Coach: Vision for 2026
Hi Eagles!
I am so honored and thankful to have this opportunity. I quickly fell in love with the Eagles community last summer. The atmosphere, traditions, and energy of this precious group are contagious, and I’m truly excited to be a part of our team in this role.
Swimming for me is more than just a sport or a workout. It’s life-giving for me. I would love to instill this love for swimming into the Eagles community. I genuinely believe that swimming is a vital, life skill and can be a life-long sport. I wouldn’t have these views without the coaches I had when I was a young swimmer, and I hope to be that type of coach for your kids.
I’m looking forward to having lots of fun while also working hard on form, technique, and speed! I hope to inspire your swimmers to set personal goals that we can aim to reach by the end of the summer. Reaching those goals – at the individual level – are not only personal wins, but help set the tone for the overall success of the team.
Thank you to Heather and the rest of the board for believing in me, and I’m thrilled to be working alongside Carly and Catherine next year. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together as a team.
In the meantime, to maintain and build endurance and technique, I highly recommend signing your swimmers up for lessons at Ida Lee through the winter and definitely in the spring. I can email out reminders for when the registration dates are scheduled. If you have any questions about which level(s) to sign up for, let me know.
Go Eagles!
-Coach Rachel
Coach Carly had her first season as head coach of the Exeter Eagles 2024, she is returning as an assistant coach for our 2025 season. She began her swim career with the South Riding Stingrays in 2012 and became a junior coach in 2019. Following high school, she became the assistant head coach for the Broadlands Piranhas in 2022 where she also swam her last season. Carly also swam for Snow Swimming from 2013-2021 and was on Freedom High School’s varsity swim team all 4 years. Carly will be a graduate of at James Madison University in spring of 2025 with a degree in Biology, where she also serves as the president of the club swim team.
Catherine Probst has been swimming competitively for 15 years, 11 of which have been with the Exeter Eagles. In addition, she has been swimming for the past 4 years with Machine Aquatics, a year-round club. She enjoys working as a lifeguard at various pools in Loudoun County, as she has for the past 3 years. She will be studying Civil Engineering when she starts college this fall. Since creating the Eaglets mini-team in 2024, she has enjoyed coaching the team, and she looks forward to their third season in 2026. Her favorite part about the Eaglets season is supporting the kids as they compete in the mini-meets.
Emilio Manosalvas Intriago has been a member of the Exeter Eagles for 14 years and has served as a junior coach since the age of 14. He has also worked as a swim instructor at Ida Lee Recreational Park for the past two years.
In his free time, Emilio enjoys going to the gym, running, listening to music, fishing, skateboarding, spending time at the beach, and attending church.
In addition to swimming, he has participated in other sports, including basketball for four years and wrestling for two years. In college, Emilio plans to major in Unmanned Aircraft Systems at Liberty University.
His favorite part of being on the Exeter Eagles is when the entire team comes together before a meet to get energized and excited for their races.
