Christa Thompson’s passion for swimming started at an early age and continued through college, where she competed on the Iowa State University swim team. Upon graduation, Thompson began her teaching career in elementary before realizing her calling was teaching high schoolers. It was around this time Thompson started to genuinely miss competitive swimming.

“I missed the sport a lot, so the best option for me to be involved was to become a coach,” Thompson said.

Thompson is now in her fifteenth year of teaching with the past seven coming as the Bixby boys and girls head swim coach. Thompson is thankful to have learned from some of the best coaches around throughout her swim career. Knowing what it takes to win at a high level, Thompson brings the same motivation she got from her coaches to the Bixby swim teams.

Thus far, Thompson has coached the boys’ team to its best finish at state since joining Class 6A with a third-place finish last season. Two years ago, the girls’ team also reached its highest finish in program history as state runner up.

“Our swimmers are amazing,” Thompson said. “I know how difficult the sport can be, and I’m proud how hard they work every practice. I think what they do goes underappreciated.”

When she’s not coaching, Thompson teaches high school English where she enjoys building relationships with her students.

“I love getting to know each of them and they seem to get me,” Thompson said. “I can be sarcastic sometimes and they get my sense of humor. Also, it’s a really cool feeling when they tell you that my class made a huge difference for them when they get to college.”

In her limited spare time, Thompson spends it with her husband, Mike, and three boys, Brayden, Kamden, and Carsen.