Hayley Peirsol

Hayley Reide Peirsol (born August 9, 1985) is an American former distance swimmer. She swam under Dave Salo with Irvine Novaquatics prior to attending Auburn University. While at Auburn, Hayley trained under David Marsh, Dorsey Tierney and the late Ralph Crocker. Hayley earned 3 individual NCAA titles and 3 individual SEC titles in the 1650 freestyle as well as 3 NCAA and 4 SEC team titles. In 2006 and 2007, Hayley also trained with Club Wolverine at the University of Michigan along with teammates Erik Vendt, Michael Phelps, Klete and Kalyn Keller, and Kaitlin Sandeno under Bob Bowman and the legendary distance guru, Jon Urbanchek. In 2006, Hayley became the third woman in history to ever break 16 minutes in the 1500 meter freestyle, the other two women being Janet Evans and Kate Ziegler.

In 2007, Hayley retired from swimming with the desire of making her name known as a triathlete. She trained under former World Champion Siri Lindley in Santa Monica, California with teammates Mirinda Carfrae (2010 Ironman World Champion), Jenny Fletcher and New Zealander Samantha Warriner. In May 2009 she took second place in her first ITU race which was in her brother's hometown of Austin, Texas.[2] Hayley received the Rookie of the Year award in 2009 from the ITU federation for her accomplishments in her new sport.

Hayley then moved to Berkeley, California after retiring from competitive sports. In the Bay Area, she attended a three-year program at Rudolf Steiner's Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training. Hayley now lives in Costa Rica teaching in a start-up Waldorf School in Lake Arenal.

Her brother, American backstroker Aaron Peirsol, is a multiple Olympic Games gold medalist, having competed in Greece, Australia and China. Hayley and Aaron are the first of two sibling duos to medal at the same FINA World Championships (in 2003 and 2007), along with Bronte Campbell and Cate Campbell who earned a silver medal on the same 4x100 meter freestyle relay in Barcelona in 2013.