Meet the Coaching Staff
Head Coach
Mark Daum
Mark Daum enters his 26th year in coaching and his 11th year as Head Coach of Five Star Swim Club. He is Aquatics director at Lititz Community Center. His previous coaching experience includes: Lancaster YMCA Head Girls coach 8 years, West Chester Suburban Swim Club 3 years, and Four Seasons Swim Club 4 years. Mark has a B.S. in Elementary Education and an M.S. in Physical Education.
John Apple
John started coaching in 1960 after teaching swimming at the Lancaster YMCA for three years under master instructor Ray Baker. He then prepared for a coaching career by obtaining a BS degree in Physical Education from West Chester State College. In 1964 John was granted a teaching assistantship at Indiana University where he earned a Masters Degree and assisted Dr. James Counsilman (U.S. Olympic Coach 1964 & 1976). In 1970 he received another teaching assistantship at Louisiana State University where he pursued additional graduate study and acted as assistant swim coach/head diving coach. While at LSU he was acting head swim coach at the 1970-71 S.E.C. Swim Championships. After coaching for 20 years at Millersville University, John retired from college coaching. Shortly thereafter he became involved in United States Swimming as an age group coach and presently continues this interest at Five Star Swim Club under head coach Mark Daum. John is currently an Associate Professor at Millersville University and teaches in the areas of Wellness and Sport Science.
Silvia Kroeck
Silvia returned to coaching Five Star in 2001 after a few years absence. She was honored, way back in 1989 to be asked by Mark to coach the fledgling team of Five Star, and she coached through 1996. She also was head coach for Elizabethtown High School and Lititz Springs summer swim team. She has been in water safety for many years as a lifeguard and swim instructor at both Ephrata Rec Center and the Lititz Community Center. Currently, Siliva is a librarian at Living Word Academy and resides in Lititz.
Krysta Ney
Krysta Ney began teaching swimming when she was 14. She helped the Conestoga Valley swim team "babies" to compete and learn all four strokes. In 1992 she officially became a coach at CV, although she is no longer coaching at CV. She has been coaching at Five Star since 1997. Krysta has been married for one year and works at Clipper Magazine as a Graphic Designer. She has 3 older brothers and graduated from Conestoga Valley High School in 1992. She has a degree in Graphic Design from Pennsylvania College of Technology (1997).
Barb Raasch
Barb Raasch began swimming at 6 years of age under the tutelage of John Apple. She swam for Skyline through her senior year in HS. She also swam for Manheim Township High School, LAC, Lancaster YMCA, and the University of Pittsburgh. Many of those years she swam under Mark Daum, before beginning her coaching career with him at Skyline. After he left, she was the head coach at Skyline for several years. She also coached at the Lancaster YMCA for a year. In the mid 1980's, she gave up coaching and worked as a manager in the restaurant industry. She managed Mr. Steak/Finleys American Restaurant for about 7 years before marrying Matt Raasch. They have a 2 1/2 year old daughter, Tara and a new baby boy, Michael, 1 month old. She stopped working after Tara was born and loves being a mom. Barb returned to coaching 2 years ago when Mark asked her to join the Five Star staff. She enjoyed it so much that she returned to coaching at Skyline 2 summers ago. Now that summer is over, she is happy to be back coaching those fun and energetic swimmers at Five Star.
Scott Pusey
Scott Pusey began his swimming career at age nine with the Lititz Springs Swim Team. After a winter season with the YMCA, the Lititz Community Center opened and he became a member of the first ever Five Star Swim Club team. As a high school student he swam at Warwick where he still holds team records in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. Scott attended Rutgers University where he earned a Bachelors degree in psychology. He was a Big East qualifier all four years of his collegiate career, and was elected team captain as a senior. After graduation Scott stayed on as an assistant coach with the team for two years, helping Rutgers athletes qualify for the NCAA Div. I Championships for the first time in school history. During this time Scott also served as director for the Arete Swim Camp held at Rutgers University. Upon returning to Lancaster County in 2002 he served as an assistant coach for the Manheim Central Swim Team before becoming part of the Five Star Staff in 2003. Scott is employed by Pusey and Raffensperger Builders in Lititz as their controller and lives in East Pete with his wife Kati. Scott remains an active swimmer by participating with the Five Star Masters Team.