The 2011-12 season will be the fourth for Vadim Tashlitsky '00 as head coach of the Foresters and his 10th year in coaching.

Tashlitsky led the Forester men's and women's teams to their second straight runner-up finishes at the 2011 Midwest Conference Championships. The men scored 40 more points than during the previous year's championship meet while the women's 118-point improvement left them just eight points out of first place. Both teams were 4-1 in dual meets on the season, giving the women a record of 15-6 and the men a mark of 12-9 in Tashlitsky's three years as head coach.

Forester swimmers claimed a dozen conference titles (10 individual, 2 relay) at the 2011 MWC Championships, broke 12 school and six conference records, and posted four NCAA qualifying marks. Tashlitsky's athletes have now finished first at the conference meet 29 times and set 18 program records in his first three years as head coach. Sophomore Becky Shaak advanced to the NCAA Division III Championships for the second straight season and earned All-American honors by placing seventh in the 400-IM. She was also 13th in the 1650-freestyle.

In addition to the 10 members of the team that were part of at least one conference championship performance in 2011, seven swimmers and divers earned Academic All-MWC honors, giving the program 17 in Tashlitsky's tenure. He also repeated as MWC Women's Coach of the Year after earning the award for both genders in 2010.

Tashlitsky came to Lake Forest from California, where he was the senior coach at Irvine Novaquatics, a nationally-recognized United States Gold Medal Swim Club. He was also the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Soka University of America.

Prior to moving to Irvine in 2006, Tashlitsky worked for four years with the Barrington Swim Club in Barrington, Illinois, and served as the club's Head Senior Coach for the final two years. He also assisted with the Barrington High School Swim Team and the Barrington Swim Club’s age group program.

Among the athletes he has developed are NCAA and High School All Americans, Senior National, United States Open, Junior National, and Speedo Sectional Champion Series qualifiers. Those individuals combined to break more than 80 college, club, and high school records. Through his position at Irvine Novaquatics he also worked directly with several Senior National, Olympic Trial, and World Championship qualifiers.

Tashlitsky, who graduated from the College in 2000, was a three-year letter winner and All-Midwest Conference swimmer. He helped the Foresters claim three consecutive conference championships in 1997, 1998, and 1999.