Coach Furstoss’ love for swimming began in Horseheads High School and continued through college at the University of Rochester. In 2017, after a hiatus from the sport, he was offered an opportunity to coach the Corning-Painted Post High School swim teams with his wife, Alyssa. His tenure has been marked with notable achievements, including coaching the boys’ team to two sectional championships and helping two athletes achieve state champion status, as well as a state record in the 200 free relay. Despite these victories, Furstoss’ coaching philosophy is centered around the personal growth of each swimmer. He is highly motivated by seeing the progress of all his athletes, from seasoned competitors achieving national cuts to novices steadily improving their times and confidence.
Off the pool deck, Furstoss applies his analytical skills in his role as a Research Scientist at Corning Incorporated, a position he's held since 2008. His problem-solving abilities complement his coaching style, often leading to innovative training methods and strategies where needs are identified.
In his role at STAQ, Coach Furstoss is committed to fostering a team culture that embodies hard work, mutual respect, and the courage to push one’s limits.
Coach John’s swimming career began at the age of 9 with the Lansing Cats, evolving from comfortable water novice to an accomplished competitor. As a high school athlete under Coach Mike Blakely-Armitage, John set over a dozen records, became a two-time Silver medalist at the NYS Championships, and earned All-American honors twice.
His pursuit of excellence continued at the University at Buffalo, where he excelled as a 14-time national qualifier, a competitor at the 2013 US Open, a 4x Division-I MAC Conference A-finalist, and achieved the NCAA-B cut time in the 200 Breaststroke- his favorite event.
John transitioned into coaching after college, committed to nurturing future swimming talent and giving back to the community which has given him so much. His coaching milestones include setting numerous records, clinching multiple Section IV Championships, and capturing many individual State Champion titles while assisting at Ithaca and later as part of the Corning Painted-Post varsity teams. Beyond the pool, John enjoys playing video games, attending car shows, and spending time with his family.
Jeanette Goodwin - Age Group Coach
Coach Jeanette's professional experience as an Elementary Educator has equipped her with a motivating teaching style and an encouraging approach to leadership. Her love of swimming began at age six when her local swim league competed during summers in Richmond, VA. A love of the water led her to Wrighstville Beach, NC where she studied and worked for over a decade. Her enthusiasm for the sport has encouraged her own daughters to pursue swimming. Jeanette has recently become certified as a Coach through USA Swimming and has begun working with swimmers at STAQ. Her passion for swimming and learning, competitive vision for our team, and collaboration with our experienced coaching staff will foster a team environment where swimmers can learn, grow, and reach their full potential.
Lucy Hilker - Age Group Coach
Lucy fell in love with swimming while growing up. Now, she loves to share that love of the sport with aspiring swimmers. Lucy uses her skills as a teacher to help her coach and build relationships with her swimmers. Lucy's favorite event was the 100 breaststroke. Outside of the pool she enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with her friends and family.
Katherine McKane - Age Group Coach
Katherine has been competitively swimming since high school, beginning her career as part of the Corning - Painted Post Girls Varsity Team. She was team co-captain her junior and senior years on varsity. Katherine continued her swimming career at Sarah Lawrence College competing at the D3 level. In her time as a Gryphon, she was a 6x Metropolitan Conference finalist, Skyline Conference Champion in the 400 IM, setting a conference record and setting a new school record, and earned both Sarah Lawrence College's Scholar Athlete of the year and Skyline Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Scholar Athlete of the Year. Katherine has been teaching swim lessons for the past 4 years to athletes of all ages aiming to refine their swimming technique and make swimming fun for all. In the past several years, she started coaching competitive swim teams and is thrilled to continue being a part of the swimming community. Beyond swimming, Katherine is pursuing her MA in Education of Psychology: General Psychology from Columbia University, and she likes to go on hikes and enjoys eating sweet treats.
Steve Propper - Age Group Coach
Steve is a native New Yorker who spent summers during high school and college working as a lifeguard and swim instructor at a summer camp newar Poughkeepsie. Beginning in his 40s, Steve began to compete in triathlons and open water swims with the longest being the Swim Miami 10K.
Professionally, most of his career has been spent in Finance, first in banking and then in pharmaceuticals. In 2016, Steve joined Corning and has been serving as the Treasurer with a team located in Corning, Budapest, and Shanghai. During the spring recently, he renewed his lifeguarding certificate and is looking forward to joining the STAQ coaching staff!
Personally, Steve is married to Diana and has two sons: one living in Brooklyn, and the other living in Philadelphia.
Yushi Portwood - Senior Coach
Yushi started his swimming career when he moved to the United States by swimming with the Crystal City River Rats. Since then, he has been involved with the sport all his life. He swam with the Corning-Painted Post Varsity Team, where he was able to set multiple school records and achieve the All-American Consideration cut time with his teammates. He took his racing career a little past high school and swam with the Division III Ithaca College Swimming & Diving Team for a short period of time.
His passion in the sport has always been coaching and managing. He started out doing 1:1 private lessons with the local YMCA in high school, and has been part of the teaching world since. He has coached a couple seasons with the Crystal City River Rats, and was the NYS League Director for an adult swimming league called Grown-Up Swimming for a couple of years. He has coached all ages and levels, from adults training for open-water races, to swimmers participating within the Special Olympics.
Outside of the swimming world, he works as an Activities Coordinator for a Senior Living Complex located in Painted Post, NY. He is very excited to take this next step in his coaching journey as part of STAQ, and cannot wait to work with his previous coaches and the talented swimmers STAQ has to offer!
Pete Sowinski - Age Group/Senior Coach
Coach Pete's competitive swimming career started when he was 12 years old, when he started swimming for the modified team at Akron Central School. Pete's career took him from Modified to swimming at Alfred University where he specialized in sprint freestyle. His favorite event was the 200 freestyle. Pete was a part of the 4x200 freestyle relay at Alfred that broke the school record and earned a NCAA-B cut time, and NCAA Academic All-American honorable mention! Coach Pete is early in his coaching career, with experience coacing the CPP modified swim team in prior years. He is very excited to teach good stroke technique, fast starts, and excellent turns! Outside of the pool, Pete works for Corning Incorporated as an Engineering Department Head at the Diesel facility. He also enjoys fishing, duck hunting, playing with his golden retriever, and cycling.
Ryan Morehouse - Assistant/Senior Coach
Coach Ryan discovered his passion for the water early on, spending countless hours at the community pool in his home state of Virginia. After moving to New York, he quickly found his competitive edge in swimming in 2012. His dedication paid off as he set records at both the club and varsity levels.
Coach Ryan continued his swimming journey at Nazareth University, where he excelled as a conference finalist in butterfly and backstroke events. Alongside his athletic achievements, he earned a degree in chemistry in 2021 and completed a master's in physical chemistry by 2025. When he’s not training, Coach Ryan enjoys hiking and playing in bands with friends, always finding ways to stay close to the water that he loves.
