By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
CLARKSTON — As the Wolves dive into the 2024-2025 athletic year, the Clarkston Swim and Dive program welcomes new coaches Melissa Hesse for the girls team and Haley Grisdale for the boys team.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to further immerse myself in this community as new head coach for the swimming and diving program,” Hesse said, sharing she moved to Clarkston with her three children, Piper, 13, Miles, 11, and Finn, 8, a few years ago.
“Walking up to our first football game I felt a huge sense of community and relief that I had chosen the right place for us,” she said. “Outside of coaching, I enjoy spending time with my kids, who are also talented young swimmers.”
Hesse’s swim experience began at four-years-old.
“I had a crush on the coach and joined to try to show off my skills,” she shared. “After that I became a state champion age group swimmer when I was 10. I was also a diver through my freshman year in high school and played water polo at the college club level. I went on to become a captain for Eastern Michigan University’s Women’s Swim Team where I made the top times list for my backstroke events. I was lucky enough to have had the most amazing coaches throughout my swimming career.”
Hesse began coaching during college at the University of Michigan swim camps.

“I was given the greatest opportunity to have the U of M coaches as my mentors – including one of the absolute best coaches in the history of swimming – Olympic Coach Jon Urbanchek,” she shared. “After college, life happened, and it wasn’t until I was living in Germany that I found my true passion for coaching. Since then, I have coached year-round for both USA Swimming club teams and summer country clubs in the area and truly love coaching and watching the kids excel.”
Hesse’s primary goal for the girls swim and dive team is to foster a supportive and motivating environment where every swimmer can thrive.
“I aim to build a program that emphasizes hard work, personal growth, team bonding, and the joy of swimming,” she said. “My vision is to see our teams excel not just in competitions but also in their personal development and teamwork.”
Her main goal for the program is to build enthusiasm and support for the team.
“I want to spread awareness and get more swimmers, divers, and the entire community talking about our program,” she said, adding she would love to see a middle school program added and club teams filled with kids passionate about these sports from a young age.”
She added she is really excited to see what the Wolves can do and watch the programs grow.
“I am confident that both the girls and boys program have the most wonderful team of coaches who are not only passionate about the sport but will also be the best mentors for these high schoolers,” Hesse said. “I am so incredibly thankful to Jenifer Blitz (diving coach) for really stepping up and making this transition painless, Jeff Musson (assistant coach) for being full of ideas and positivity, to the parents for making me feel so welcomed, especially Nikki Kurmaniak our parent coordinator, and lastly to the girls for believing in me and convincing me to be their new coach! I’m pumped and ready to make this a year to remember.”
When Hesse is not coaching, Hesse recently became an entrepreneur in March and is busy coordinating events around Metro Detroit for her company, Eventurous Singles.
“I am very passionate about creating a safe and fun environment for this amazing group of people and helping them live their best lives,” she said.
Grisdale will lead the boys program as they get started in November.
“I can’t wait to be a part of the Wolves’ pack,” she said.
She added her first goal is getting to know the team and build a rapport with the athletes, parents and community.
“I want to improve technique and focus on good swimming habits to build a great foundation for building speed later,” Grisdale said. “With the boys moving up into the OAA White division, I want the team to be competitive and perform well against the schools in that division. I would love for a higher place finish at the Oakland County Meet and MHSAA State Meet. I want everyone on the team to drop time and for diving to raise their scores from beginning of season to the end. I also think it is important for the athletes to also enjoy the season and incorporate fun. I want to build a great team atmosphere that is focused on the team successes, which at times is difficult since swimming and diving are usually individual focused.”
Grisdale began coaching when she was 18-years-old on her club team, Liquid Lightning.
“I enjoyed working with young swimmers and building their confidence in the water,” she said. Since that time, I have coached at the collegiate, high school, country club, and USA club level.”

Her competitive swimming journey began with Liquid Lightning when she was eight-years-old. She competed at diverse levels and swam at state championships, sectionals, and junior nationals. She was a multiple time state champion in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.
Grisdale shared she was an LL Club and Oxford High School record holder, MHSAA All-State for three years, scholar athlete and Academic All-American.
“I was a sectional and national qualifier,” she added. “After high school, I was offered and accepted a scholarship to swim at Michigan State University where I competed in the Big Ten Conference for four years.”
During her time as a Spartan, she achieved all-time top times in the 200-yard freestyle in eighth place; 500-yard freestyle, second place; 1,000-yard freestyle, tenth place; and 1,650-yard freestyle. She is the current record holder in the 1,500-meter freestyle. I received academic All-Big Ten honors, Spartan of the Year award winner, and four-year varsity winner.
“In 2018-2019 I was a graduate assistant for MSU working primarily with distance swimmers,” Gisdale said.
After graduating with a Biological Sciences Degree from MSU in 2019, she continued to pursue a teaching certification and student taught at Troy Athens High School and also worked as an assistant coach for the girls season.
During the summertime, Grisdale is the head coach at Oakhurst Country Club. She is also the Lake Orion High School Girls Swimming and Diving Head Coach for Lake Orion entering her fifth year, where she also teaches science.
When she isn’t coaching or teaching, Grisdale is enjoying being a newlywed after marrying her husband, Matt Grisdale in January. The couple met at Michigan State University and got engaged on campus as well. Their three-year-old golden doodle is also a Spartan and is named Breslin.
Grisdale graduated from Oxford High School and still lives in the community. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends who also live in the area, working out, golfing, going out on the boat, reading, and traveling.
The Clarkston Girls Swim and Dive team open the fall season hosting Rochester Adams on Sept. 5 at 6 p.m.

  Clarkston Athletics, Clarkston Swim and Dive