TVSC Coaching Staff
Mark Anderson Head Coach
Coach Mark grew up in Poughkeepise New York, and swam for Marist Swim Club(Now Red Fox Aquatic Club) for over 10 years. Swimming Divison 1 at Stony Brook Univeristy for the late Dave Alexander and Chris Brandenberger. During his years of swimming Coach Mark learned from some of the best. Mark coached the University of Michigan Swim camps for 4 years from 2011-2014. Learning from coaching icons such as Mark Hill, Mike Bottom, Jon Urbanchek and Bob Bowman. Coach Mark Join Three Village Swim Club in the Fall of 2012 and in the Fall of 2013 was named the Head Coach. Since then Coach Mark has a list of accomplishments that is a direct result of having a great staff around him. Coach Mark got married in August 2018 to Taylor Kelly and they live now in Wading River with their two Australian Shepards. In the fall of 2019 Mark joined his Alma Mater, Stony Brook as the Womens Swimming and Diving Assistant Coach. This past year Mark became the Head Coach of Stony Brook University. He looks forward to growing both programs this year.
Coaching Accomplishments:
- (2) 2020 U.S Olympic Trial Qualifer
- USA Swimming Bronze Medal Club 2018, 2020 & 2021
- 3 US Open Qualifiers
- 5 US National Qualifiers
- 15 US Jr. National Qualifiers
- 5 NYS High School State Champions
- Speedo Holiday Cup overall Team Champions: 2014 & 2016
- Club ranked 140th in the Country
- Swimmer ranked 80th in the world on Top-100 18&Under List for 2019
Chris Brandenberger Assistant Head Coach
Coach Chris started swimming for TVSC at age 7 and he would end up practicing and competing with TVSC for the next 14 years, representing TVSC at Senior Nationals each summer while home from college. Graduating from Ward Melville High School in 2001, he went on to swim at the University of Maryland in College Park, where he earned All-ACC honors in the 200 Backstroke in 2004, was a member of the school record breaking 800 Freestyle Relay and was voted team captain his Junior and Senior seasons by his teammates and coaches.
Chris has coached collegiately at the University of Maryland (2005-2006), Washington College (Md) (2006-2008), Iona College (2008-2010), Stony Brook University (2010-2014) and currently serves as the Head Coach and Aquatics Director at St. Joseph’s University - Long Island in Patchogue. His swimmers have earned Division III All-American Honors, broken 55 school records and in 2010 the Stony Brook University Women’s team won the ECAC Winter Championship. He was most recently named 2022-2023 Skyline Conference Coach of the Year.
Chris has served as a Winter and Summer Zone Team Coach, while also assisting the National Team at Sectionals and Senior Zones.
Peter Smit Junior Team Head Coach
Peter joined the TVSC Coaching Staff in 1999 after coaching Spirit Swimming of Newtown, Pennsylvania, for five years. He brought a wealth of knowledge, experience that has greatly benefitted the TVSC community. He was born and raised in the Netherlands and was a middle-distance freestyle swimmer and water polo player for his Dutch club team, while in high school and college. After receiving his engineering degree he came to the US for a job in the Silicon Valley in California. Before and after work he trained for one year with the well-known Santa Clara Swim Club. One of his teammates was the 15 year old Pablo Morales, who later became the 100 fly Olympic Champion in Barcelona 1992. Peter became a US Citizen in 1990. The Smit family moved from California to Newtown, PA, in 1991 and moved from Newtown to Mount Sinai in the summer of 1999. In between trying to stay in shape as a master swimmer in the morning and coaching the Junior 2 team at night, Peter is a Sr Systems Engineer for Sartorius in Bohemia. One swimming experience he will never forget, is being at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to see daughter, Julia, compete for Team USA and medal in the 400 and 800 Free Relays.
Mike Smit Lead Junior 1 Team Coach 
Mike joined TVSC as an athlete in 1999 when the Smit family moved to New York. After 4 years on the team, he attended Cornell University where he swam for four years. Michael qualified for division I NCAAs in multiple events in both his junior and senior years. After graduating from Cornell in 2007, Michael moved to North Carolina to train for 2008 Olympic Trials at SwimMac with Olympic Team coach David Marsh. At 2008 Olympic Team Trials Michael swam the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle and the 100 and 200 butterfly. After Olympic Trials in 2008, Michael began coaching at TVSC where he stayed for one year before accepting a full time coaching position in New York City. During this time, he began training again with with the goal of making the 2012 Olympic team. In 2010, Michael moved to FAST in Southern California where he continued to coach and began training with and learning from Jon Urbanchek, one of the most decorated coaches USA swimming. Michael trained alongside numerous Olympians and world record holders while preparing for 2012 Olympic Trials where he swam the 100, 200, and 400 freestyle, finishing 15th in the 200.
Mike returned to coach at TVSC in 2012, eager to share his diverse swimming knowledge and experience. He completed his master's degree in Secondary Math Education at Hofstra University in 2015. He is now a math and computer science teacher at Ward Melville High School. In summer of 2019 Mike married TVSC Coach Kate Conard.
Kate Smit Junior Team Coach 
Jay Wiedersum (Coach Jason) Junior Team Coach
Coach Jason grew up in Nesconset and attended Smithtown HS. Began swimming in 1989 (Rookie of the Year, MVP 1990-96) for North Shore Aquatic Association (NSAA) based out of Stony Brook University. Empire State Games gold in 100 back, silver in 200 back and 200 IM. Former (way former) pool record holder at SBU in the 100 yd backstroke. Junior National qualifier in 100, 200 yd backstroke, 100 yd butterfly, 50, 100 yd freestyle, 200 yd IM. Member of D1 James Madison University Men’s Swimming in Harrisonburg, VA (1996-2000), competing in the Colonial Athletic Association. CAA team champions 1997, 98, 2000. Top 5 finisher in 100, 200 backstroke, 100 butterfly in CAA Championships. Asst coach for JMU Men’s Championship team in 2001. Asst Coach for Team Suffolk Swimming from 2002-2015, coaching at the Junior Elite (ages 8-13) and Elite (ages 12-18) levels. Head coach for Half Hollow Hills girls, boys and middle school programs from 2004-2015. Multiple Coach of the Year awards for boys high school swimming, Suffolk County champions for 7 straight years. Coach to multiple NY State boys champions (individual and relay), 1x public school team high school state champions. Asst coach for 2 years at Connetquot Swim Club. Currently coaching 2nd year with TVSC at the novice level.
Coach Jason married in 2009 to wife, Mia. Father to daughters Sadie (2012) and Adelyn (2013), living in Middle Island.
Taylor Anderson Novice Team Head Coach
Taylor started swimming for TVSC when she was 8 years old and swam for 10 years on the team. She graduated from Shoreham Wading River High School in 2006 and went to swim at SUNY Fredonia for 4 years. She received her Bachelor's of Science degree in Exercise Physiology from SUNY Fredonia. After graduation she attended Adelphi University and received her Master's in Physical Education. She began coaching for TVSC in 2011 at the Novice levels and has been coaching the Novice groups ever since. She loves working with the younger swimmers to help develop their strokes and technique and love for the sport. She and Coach Mark got married in the summer of 2018 and have two Australian Shepherds at home!
Dan Laidlaw Novice Team Coach
Dan is a former TVSC swimmer since the age of 6 and competed through high school, as well as during the summers while in college. While growing up and swimming for TVSC, Dan also played football and baseball at Comsewogue High School where he earned academic all-county awards as the quarterback of the football team his junior and senior years, and earned all-county awards his junior and senior years for baseball. Dan was also the recipient of the Gold Glove award his senior year as a centerfielder, which is awarded to the top player at each position in Suffolk County.
Graduating from Comsewogue in 2001, Dan attended The University of Tampa where he committed to swimming the next four years on an academic and athletic scholarship. Dan qualified for the Division II NCAAs in multiple events in both his freshman and senior years, and earned All-American honors in the 200 Individual Medley as a senior. He has a Bachelor of Science degree and is currently a Certified Public Accountant.
Dan came back to TVSC in 2019 as a parent, and joined the TVSC coaching staff as a volunteer in February 2021, working with the Novice teams. Dan is happily married and has three little boys, Luke, Dylan and Chase. He is proud to see his oldest son, Luke, join the TVSC family in 2019 and begin competing at the age of 7.
Rita Chen Novice Team Coach
Coach Rita started competitively swimming at age 6 with TVSC under Coach Barry and later Coach Paul. When she had just entered freshman year of high school, Coach Mark had just become the head coach of the swim team and introduced many new drills and brought upon many new ways to practice. While on the team, Rita helped set a 200 Medley relay record, which has now been broken, as well as being a high point IMX scorer. Rita represented her high school, Earl L. Vandermeulen (Port Jefferson), as an independent swimmer. She qualified for States her junior and senior year and was an All County Award recipient her senior year. Aside from swimming, she decided to join track and field her junior year and ended up qualifying for States throwing discus. She was awarded with an Outstanding Athlete Scholarship her senior year.
She graduated Port Jefferson High School in 2016 and decided that her swim career was not over. She went on to swim for four more years at the University of Maine division 1 program on an athletic and academic scholarship. Throughout her four years, she qualified for finals at the America East Championships every season, helping her team score points, as well as breaking a few of their school records. She assisted her teammates on breaking the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, as well as the 200 Medley relay, which have not been broken yet. She worked at her school as a swim instructor for all four years through Black Bear Swim School and Junior Black Bears, a program set in place by her swim team.
At the University of Maine, she studied Social Work with a minor in interdisciplinary studies and worked with teenagers often through her field placement, focusing on their mental health and growth to becoming an adult. She graduated in 2020 during Covid-19 and started coaching late 2021, bringing swimming back into her life.
Mikaylie DePalma Novice Team Coach
My name is Mikaylie DePalma and I have been swimming competitively since I was six years old. I started my career on Team Suffolk where I swam for 11 years. I also swam for my high schools varsity team, Half Hollow Hills East where I served as captain for two years. I went on to pursue my swimming career as a Division I athlete at Stony Brook University under Coach Mark Anderson and I hope to foster my passion of swimming by coaching others.
Breanna Daly Novice Team Coach
Laura Donlevy Novice and Senior Team Coach
Laura grew up swimming on Long Island for the West Islip Swim Club under Marc Danin. She continued her swimming career in college at Southern Connecticut State University where she graduated in 2011. During her time at SCSU, Laura spent many summers learning from Olympic Coaches Dave Salo, Catherine Vogt, and many other high caliber coaches at The University of Southern California. After college, Laura became the Women's Assistant Swim Coach at Wagner College where she spent two seasons. In the summers she continued her work out west at USC, and also spent some time learning from one of the world's best sprinter and coach- Brett Hawke at Auburn Swim Camp. Following her time at Wagner, Laura spent one season as the Assistant Swim Coach for the Men and Women's Team at Towson University. Most recently, Laura has served as the Aquatics Director and Head Swim Coach at The Stony Brook School.
Laura is married to Kevin Donlevy- another Long Island Swimmer! Together they have two children, Jameson (3) and Mackenzie (1) , and have a third on the way (2023)!
Laura is really excited to join one of the best coaching staffs on Long Island. She can't wait to help continue the tradition of success and to be a part of making history at TVSC!
