Steve Flato- DSSC Head Coach
DSSC Head Coach

Coach Flato is a native El Pasoan. He began swimming at age eight (8) and continued to swim through his college years. At Eastwood High School, Steve attained the honors of All-District, All-Region, and All-State in High School swimming. Coach Flato graduated Eastwood High School in 1977, and continued his education and swimming career with a scholarship to Drury College. He became an All-American Swimmer, received a Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education and Health. Steve was a PE Coach at Scotsdale Elementary School and the head coach of the Eastwood High School Swim Team. He is now at Eastwood full time and will continue to coach the Eastwood Swim Team,

Coach Flato's swimming accomplishments are:

• ASCA level 4 Swimming Coach
• 21 years as the Head Coach of Eastwood High School
• 15 years as the Head Coach of the Desert Sharks
• 38 out of 40 District 2-5A swimming titles
• He has coached over 60 Region 1 Champions, over 320 2-5A All-District 2-5A athletes and 45 High School All-Americans
• He has won the Region 1-5A Boys Championships for 7 straight years
• The Eastwood Boys Team was ranked top 10 in the nation in 1996, 1998, 2000 & 2001
• Named District and Regional Coach of the Year several times
• He has sent more than a dozen swimmers to Junior Nationals
• In the last 4 years, 50 Desert Sharks have qualified for the Texas Age Group Championships, with over 10 of those swimmers becoming state champions

Raquel Herrera

Coach Herrera was born in California, but grew up in El Paso. She swam competitively since she was 8 years old. She swam for Coach Flato at Eastwood High School. During high school, Raquel set the district Record in the 100-yard butterfly. Raquel graduated from Eastwood High School in 1990. She continued her education at UTEP where she graduated in 1994, with a degree in biology. Currently, she teaches biology, physical science, geology, oceanography and meteorology at Americas High School. Raquel is also the Americas High School Swim Team Head Coach. Raquel joined the Desert Sharks Swim Club as a coach in 1999. Raquel was selected as the 2000 2-5A Coach Women's team of the year.

Jesse L. Sandoval, Jr.

Coach Sandoval has been a mainstay for promoting swimming in El Paso for the last 28 years. He specialized in taking the youngest of our swimmers and molding them into solid competitors and team members. Coach Sandoval has been associated with many of the best swim clubs in different capacities over the last two decades. Coach Sandoval received a Bachelor of Science in Education from UTEP in 1988.Coach Jesse majored in Physical Education all-levels and is certified to teach Life/Earth Science. Currently he is a 7th grade Life Science teacher at Riverside Middle School since 1989. In 1990 he accepted the head coaching position for the Riverside High School Swim Team and is still coaching the Riverside High School Team. He has coached and produced 37 swimmers that advanced to regionals and one (1) swimmer that qualified to state two (2) consecutive years, in the 10 years at Riverside.

Raul Suffle

Coach Suffle is the most recent addition to the Desert Sharks coaching staff, joining the team in 2002. As the Head Coach of Hanks High School swim team, he has produced 68 regional qualifiers. His swimmers won the 1997-98 Girls District Championships. Additionally, he has produced 11 Academia All-Americans, 4 Boys First Team All District and 5 Girls Team All District swimmers.