Our Staff

Jill Harter

2012-13 will be the ninth year Harter will run Eutectic headquarters. Harter was presented the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) Athletic Director of the Year award for 2009-10 after completing a two-year term as president of the conference. During her presidency, Harter was instrumental in implementing conference strategic plans, including redefining the conference and evaluating operations.

No stranger to sports, Harter developed and coached the field hockey team at Lindenwood University for three seasons, earning KIT Conference Coach of the Year honors during her three-year tenure. As a student-athlete, she competed as a Saint Louis University Billiken on the women's field hockey team and still is among record holders for single season and career statistics. 

In her spare time, Harter enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, and playing ice hockey, softball, and cycling.

Briana Hepfinger

After taking time off from full-time duties to have two wonderful little girls, Hepfinger, former STLCOP athletic director (1998-2003) and assistant cross country coach (2005, 06), returned in 2007 as a part-time assistant and continued in that role for five years. This fall will be her first year as SID. 

Hepfinger competed on the women's track team at Truman State University where she earned her degree in communications/journalism in 1995. She went on to help coach the track team at Eastern Illinois University while completing her master's degree in athletic administration in 1997. Her track coaching experience also includes stints at McKendree College and Webster Groves High School.

Hepfinger, her husband Joe, and two daughters live in Webster Groves and enjoy golf and tennis in their free time.

Ashley Eldridge 

In 2012, Eldridge will begin her eighth year at STLCOP and return as head coach of the women's basketball team. In her own collegiate career, she competed against the Eutectics as a Maryville University Saint. Eldridge began her career in basketball by competing on the AAU Lady Blue Devils basketball team. Her skill and leadership on the court earned her Rookie of the Year honors at both Rosary High School and Maryville University. As a starting point guard, she helped the Maryville Saints advance to conference championship titles in 2004 and 2005. 

Marisha Griffin-Essex
Assistant Women's Basketball Coach

After taking a one-year hiatus, Griffin-Essex returns to STLCOP for her third year as assistant coach of the women's basketball team. Prior to her experience with the Eutectics, Griffin-Essex accumulated six years of coaching experience at Normandy and University City high schools, where she was assistant coach of the girls' varsity teams.

Griffin-Essex and head coach Ashley Eldridge were women's basketball teammates at Maryville University where Griffin-Essex earned her bachelor's degree in psychology/sociology in 2003. She received her master's degree in social work from Saint Louis University in 2006 and earned a Licensed Clinical Social Work certificate last year.

Griffin-Essex currently works for Lutheran Family and Children's Services as a mental health counselor. She resides in Florissant, Mo., with her husband and two children, ages eight and four.

Brian Swift

Head Men's Basketball Coach
314.807.1903
stlswifthits1@aol.com

2012-13 will mark Swift's ninth season as head coach of the STLCOP men's basketball team and his eleventh year with the Eutectics. 

Swift's prior experience includes five years as head basketball coach of a local youth league team and six years coaching football at Kirkwood High School, as well as six years coaching select Little League Baseball. His first collegiate opportunity was at Forest Park, and he went on to assist at East Central Community College in Union, Mo., during the 2001–02 season before joining STLCOP's athletic department as assistant men's basketball coach in 2003. 

Swift has enjoyed coaching and watching his two teenage sons participate in sports over the years. An all-around sports fan, he also finds time to attend professional sporting events with his sons.

Adam Thalla
Assistant Men's Basketball Coach

Thalla finished his college basketball career as a Eutectic last year. As a fifth-year pharmacy student, he returns to the Eutectic squad this year in a coaching role.

During the 2011-12 season, his fourth year as a Eutectic, Thalla's dominant presence on the court as a starting guard helped guide the team to success. The team leader in assists, he made the KIAC individual statistical category rankings for total assists and assists per game. At the end of the season, Coach Swift presented Thalla with the Outstanding Achievement Award and asked him to return in the fall as Eutectic assistant coach. 

Randi Tyler 

Women's Head Volleyball Coach 
618.660.6181
randi.tyler@yahoo.com

2012 will be Tyler's fifth season leading the Eutectics. A graduate of the Missouri Baptist squad, Tyler was team captain and a top Midwest Classic Conference middle hitter. Her coaching experience includes Team Saint Louis Volleyball Club, where her team qualified and boasted high finishes at Nationals.

Tyler recently graduated from Logan Chiropractic College this fall. She coaches and plays volleyball in her free time.

Katie Payne

Athletic Department Assistant/Women's Assistant Volleyball Coach/
Interim Softball Coach
314.446.8343
katie.e.rask@stlcop.edu

Payne will take on extra duties this fall as a part-time assistant in the athletic office, while continuing her role as assistant volleyball coach for her third season. This spring, she will head up STLCOP's inaugural softball team.

In college, Payne captained the volleyball and softball teams during her senior year at Dominican University before graduating in 2006 with a degree in graphic design and photography.

In addition to her duties at STLCOP, Payne coaches club volleyball during the off-season. She also works part-time as a graphic designer for The Tan Company and enjoys spending time with her husband and two-year-old son.

David Baker

Baker began the cross country program at St. Louis College of Pharmacy in 2001. Last spring, he led the men's track team to a second-place finish in the conference, earning 2012 KIAC "Track and Field Coach of the Year" for his efforts. In 2009, he earned KIAC "Cross Country Coach of the Year" honors for coaching the Eutectic women's team to it's first-ever conference championship and NAIA national championship team qualification. 

For the past several years, Baker has had individual athletes qualify for nationals in both cross country and track, including two-time All-American, David J. Baker (no relation), who made STLCOP history as the first-ever Eutectic to earn NAIA All-American honors for his performance in the indoor one mile run in 2011 and 2012.

Prior to coaching at STLCOP, Baker spent seven years as the boys' and girls' distance coach at Parkway North High School in suburban St. Louis. While there, he coached three state champions, several All-State individual runners, and two state-qualifying girls' teams. 

Baker earned his Bachelor of Science degree in medical technology in 1994 at Southeast Missouri State University. From 1988-91, he competed on the track and cross country teams at Southeast where he was a three-time national qualifier in cross country and helped his team to a third place finish at the 1990 NCAA Division II national championship. Baker earned All-Conference honors in cross country in 1991 and the Most Valuable Runner award for the Southeast Missouri State University team in 1991.

Baker earned his MBA from Webster University and is currently the blood bank supervisor at St. Louis Children's Hospital. He and his wife live in Kirkwood with their four children. 

Meghan Wallace
Assistant Men's & Women's Cross Country and Track & Field Coach

Wallace is returning for her second season as assistant coach of the Eutectics track and cross country teams. Now a marathon runner, she competed in cross country and track at Immaculata High school in Leavenworth, Mo. In college, she joined the rowing team at St. Louis University, and later worked as a high school rowing coach at the St. Louis Rowing Club.

Wallace earned her bachelor’s degree in clinical laboratory science at St. Louis University and currently works full-time as a medical technologist at nearby St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Caleb Barnes  
Head Men's & Women's Tennis Coach/Intramurals Supervisor                                

Barnes joined STLCOP in 2011 to develop the newly formed Eutectic tennis teams and oversee the College's intramurals program. 

As a certified tennis professional, Barnes worked closely with renowned tennis pro Dr. Sophie Woorons-Johnston at her South Carolina tennis facility, learning the ins and outs of running a successful tennis club.

Barnes attended Erskine College in South Carolina where he earned his degree in Physical Education.  As captain of Erskine's team for three years, he played #2 singles and #1 doubles, earned a spot on the All-Conference Team and received Academic All-Conference honors. He also holds the distinction of being the first and only player to receive the ODK Service Award.

Barnes and his wife, Kateryna, have settled into life in St. Louis and become a complete coaching duo for the STLCOP tennis team.

Kateryna Barnes
Assistant Men's & Women's Tennis Coach

Barnes has developed a passion for sport-specific fitness through various experiences. She ran cross country and track at Erskine College while earning a degree in Psychology. Her passion for tennis developed in college and through running junior tennis camps at Brookstone Meadows Tennis.

Last year she volunteered as assistant coach for both the men's and women's Eutectic tennis teams and developed strength and conditioning programs for each. With her deep knowledge of tennis and her extensive research in strength and conditioning, she keeps the Eutectic teams strong mentally and physically so they are ready for competition.