Vavina Lapham was elevated to the role of Head Coach & Aquatics Director at Salem College on March 17, 2021 in an announcement from Interim Director of Athletics Chelsey Stewart. In this capacity Lapham will continue to serve as Aquatics Director for both Salem Academy & College.

Along with the new role, Lapham has also earned the distinction of being a licensed Chemical Pool Operator, a qualified Water Safety Instructor, Water Safety Instructor Teacher as well as a Lifeguard Instructor and Lifeguard Instructor Teacher. Lapham was also recently named as the first female head coach at Brookberry Farms in Winston-Salem and competes in the Greater Forsyth Summer League since being established in 2014.

Lapham began the 2021-22 season with news that the program would join the Sun Coast Conference on August 12, 2021, marking the first-ever league affiliation in program history. In the same announcement, she was invited to join the International Swim Coaches Association. The mission of ISCA is to provide swimming teachers with an exceptional, science-based education, while fostering an international network of professionals who will define the future of swimming.

Lapham claimed her first collegiate victory when the Spirits downed Mount Vernon Nazarene by a 71-63 margin in a virtual dual meet that took place on February 3^rd. Ten days later, Lapham trekked to Fort Pierce, Fla., when Salem participated in the Sun Coast Conference Championships. The trio of Kylie Clark, Abigail Hawkins and Olivia Nivens competed in nine events over a three-day stretch and claimed three Top-10 finishes. Lapham guided her unit to the finals in each event with each swimmer establishing individual bests when they reached their final competition.

At the conclusion of the 2021-22 campaign, Lapham was one of 16 coaches to earn a Golden Ticket to the 2022 North Carolina Swimming Select Camp in April. This provided Lapham with the opportunity to work alongside Mike Murray and former teammate Amy Faulk with the 117 swimmers selected to participate in the camp. 

In 2023-24, Lapham brought in Omega Pinnix from the University of Illinois-Chicago, which resulted in an immediate impact on the Salem swim program as Pinnix competed in nine meets during the course of the season. The Salem junior capped off her first season at Salem by establishing the program record for most first-place finishes (15), seven more than previous record-holder Olivia Kleven. Under Lapham's coaching, Pinnix also established nine new individual program records and one new relay record over the course of the season. 

Lapham also witnessed Pinnix lead the Spirits to two Independent Swim South Conference Championships, a program first, as well as the first ever dual victory, which came over Warren Wilson (December 2) in Salem history. 

Lapham is a member of American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA), National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA), College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) and USA Swimming. Lapham also holds a CPO, Lifeguard and Lifeguard Instructor Certification. The 2020-21 season, Lapham's first at the helm, will mark the first time in the history of Salem College swimming that a team will join an NCAA Division III conference. In each of the four previous seasons the Spirits competed as an independent.

Lapham joined the Salem College staff in 2019-20 when she accepted an assistant coaching role under then head coach Tim Hillen. Lapham took a key role in developing and recruiting for the Salem swim program, which captured 39 Top-3 finishes over the course of the season.

Lapham helped develop and enhance the collegiate career of junior Olivia Kleven, who established a single-season program-record for most Top-3 finishes (16) after competing in eight events over the course of the slate. Kleven also set the single-season program-record for most first-place finishes (eight) in 2019-20. Lapham provided Kleven the insight which helped her establish program records in the 100-individual medley (1:10.07), 200 breaststroke (2:51.76) and the 100-breaststroke (1:16.31).

With Lapham poolside at every meet, including the Guilford/Greensboro Dual on Jan. 18, 2020, Salem earned a second-place finish in the 200-medley relay with the team of Kleven, Corrin Shores, Rachel Black and Amy Stutzer, which notched a time of 2:30.50. They became the fifth unit in Salem swimming history to post a time of 2:30 or better, narrowly missing the fourth-best time in program history, which came on Feb. 2, 2010.

Lapham developed a love of swimming at a young age that has followed her through her entire life. A former competitive swimmer who graduated from South Stokes High School, along with being a surfer and record holder in backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle, Lapham trained under coach Phyllis Steimel at the Rowan Aquatic Center in Salisbury, N.C. She went on to attend Valdosta State and later the University of Georgia.

Lapham is a former coach at Swim Atlanta, recognized traditionally as a USA Swimming Top-5 team, Lapham coached: Masters, Senior AM, Senior I-3 and Advanced Age Group. Under the guidance of USA Swimming Elite Level Coach Landon Harris, she had the honor of working with some of USA Swimming's most elite coaches & swimmers as an assistant with the Junior National Team. She has coached swimmers that have gone on to swim Division I, across the ACC & SEC .

Coach Lapham was selected by her peers to represent North Carolina Swimming as a member of the travel team coaching staff for 2022. She served as a coach at the 2022 NC Age Group Select Camp in Greensboro, N.C. and the 2022 Southern Zone Long Course Age Group Championship in Tupelo, Mississippi. Coach Lapham has been requested to represent NCAA DIII Swimming among her NCAA DI peers Todd Desorbo & Matt Hall as panelist April 2023.