So Fast Sonya

10/24/2026

✨Coaching Young Men✨

I get asked a lot if I coach just the women’s XC/T&F teams and most people are surprised to find out that I’ve actually coached/trained far more men and boys in my career than women and girls.

I take my role as a coach very seriously and when it comes to coaching the boys I know I’m helping them to not learn prejudice against women leaders. One day these young men will have jobs and will very likely have a female boss or higher up, and I’m honored to be an authoritative female presence in their adolescence to help shape their view on what leaders look like.

The other day in practice I had everyone shout out one person on the team that has impressed them this season and several of the boys gave shout outs to their female teammates. The girls were a bit shocked, but when you put women in head coaching roles over a men’s team the boys aren’t just told that women are their equal they see it. And that is powerful.

I’m beyond proud of the young men on the XC team and I’m so honored to have the opportunity to coach them everyday. I know that these boys will have the courage to protect and respect women everywhere because of what they’ve experienced on the track in HS.

10/17/2026

Hustling

09/19/2026

Year after year

09/08/2026

This team’s got some exciting stuff cooking.⏲️

08/09/2026

✨One Week✨

It’s officially been a week since I’ve been home from Scotland. I’ve hardly had time to reflect with my knee surgery and all, but looking back at the photos reminds me just how incredible the moment was. It would take a entire podcast episode to explain just how many obstacles Joanna Evans and I navigated and overcame to get to the Commonwealth Games.

I’m beaming with pride for both of us. Really excited for this team’s next chapter.

07/27/2026

✨Commonwealth Games 2026✨

When Joanna first asked me to help her train for the Commonwealth Games I almost said no because I thought “I’m just a high school track coach. What do I know about performance coaching at that level?” Let alone a sport I knew very little about. I was terrified of failing her.

But she believed in me and most importantly she believed in herself. She believed that she could make a comeback at the highest level after being away from the sport for 4 years.

Her belief was so strong that day in and day out it pulled me through. There were days that I would sit there agonizing over her programming for hours and second guessing every little detail.

I finally stopped trying to pretend to be a swim coach and owned the fact that I am who I am and started looking at her training like the technical detail obsessive track coach that I am. That’s when the magic started to happen. Things started to click and there was a shift in both our confidence.

What Joanna has done here is truly extraordinary. So much so that it’s hard to put into words just how incredible what she has done is. The commonwealth games hosts 74 countries. It’s the second largest international games in the world. Second only to the Olympics.

We finished 14th overall in the 400 free, 9th overall in the 200 free and 13th overall in the 100 free. It was absolutely epic.

I say we because this is a team. She introduces me as coach but really Jo and I are teammates. We discuss technical changes, we review programming and we make competitive decisions together. I want her to have autonomy over her work because at the end of the day this is her life’s work.

And for only spending about 8 months truly preparing for this meet I’d say that all the crazy ideas and technical adjustments are working.

This team runs on self belief.

I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has helped get us to this moment. Jay and the rest of the coaches at Hill Country Aquatics for giving us a place to train. Special shout out to Coach Jack for helping us refine Jo’s turns. They were spot on the whole meet.

The University of Texas Athletic Performance staff for bringing me on as an intern with t

07/17/2026

In honor of our last practice before the Commonwealth Games next week here are some pool shenanigans for your viewing pleasure.

🎥: Desiree Kostelnik



Michael Phelps

04/30/2026

💯

04/04/2026

03/26/2026

Music to my ears 😍🎶