USA Swim Academy
Staff
Karl
Elite Coach Karl started swimming competitively at the age of eight. He continued to swim and play water polo through high school and college achieving multiple All American honors and was a two time Olympic Trials qualifier. Karl continues to train and compete in masters swimming, where has been a National Champion. Karl started coaching both swimming and water polo in the early 1990s with some of the most respected teams and coaches in Southern California. With over 40 years of swimming experience as an athlete and coach, Karl teaches and inspires swimmers with his passion and knowledge of training and technical stroke expertise. Karl has a successful career in mortgage banking which he started over 25 years ago. He currently lives in Fort Collins with his wife Dawn of 20+ years and their three children.
Susan
Susan von der Lippe is a three-time Olympian and a member of Stanford University's Athletic Hall of Fame. She made her first Olympic team at the age of 15 and was the oldest female swimmer competing at the 2008 USA Olympic Swimming Trials at the age of 42. As a collegiate swimmer Susan earned numerous national titles, a few American records and is a gold & silver Olympic medalist. She later competed in USA Masters events and earned 35 individual masters world records in the 40-44 and 45-49 age groups. Her stroke specialties include breaststroke, butterfly and the individual medley. After raising two kids, Susan now enjoys watching them compete in college, continuing her love of swimming with her group of masters friends and sharing her marketing and water skills with USA Swim Academy.
Ayden
Ayden began swimming competitively at the age of seven and often competed in her favorite stroke, butterfly. She is a graduate of Fossil Ridge High School where she previously was a member of the cheer squad that won the High School National Championships. Ayden loves reading all sorts of literature and books. She loves working with little kids because they say the cutest things and make her smile a lot. She's lived in Northern Colorado since the age of four and going on Colorado outdoor adventures are top of her list whenever she has free time.
Kaden
Kaden is a Junior at Windsor high school and has been swimming for over ten years. Besides competing for his high school team, he trains year round with the Wahoos in Johnstown. His best events are all of the freestyle distances. Kaden plans to swim in college but hasn’t decided on the location yet. He hopes to study elementary education. In his free time, Kaden enjoys lifting weights and hiking the trails around Horsetooth.
Jo
Jo grew up in Denver with a large extended family. She has over 30 cousins who live throughout the U.S. She graduated from CSU with a degree in microbiology then spent the first year after college overseas in Asia mostly in Nepal. She later returned and worked as a missions coordinator for three years. Jo loves working here at the Academy teaching kids to enjoy swimming. She too has an extensive swimming background having swum all four years in high school and working summers at Water World. In addition, she swam a semester with the CSU club team while attending the university. Jo loves to use her stand up paddleboard (SUP), read, and teach country swim and line dancing to her friends at her home.
Lauren B
Lauren is a Marine Biologist who is sharing her love for water with us while she applies to schools for an advanced degree. She graduated from the University of West Florida and is now living in NoCo and coaching with the Fort Collins Area Swim team's 9-11 year old Tiger Sharks group. She grew up around Chicago, IL where she swam competitively with the local YMCA. Her best strokes were butterfly and freestyle with the 500 free being her favorite event. Lauren is an artist too. She paints in oils in a realism style. Check out her works on her Facebook page titled, unaffiliated.art
Pierce
Pierce is a Junior at Fossil Ridge high school. He’s been swimming since the age of nine and loves the middle distance freestyle. His best events are the 200 and 500 freestyle. He wants to swim in college and hopes to find a school in California that matches his swimming goals and offers a degree in Business. In his free time, Pierce enjoys skiing and loves to play golf. He learned to swim here at the Academy and is the first former student to become one of our instructors.happy doing! I also learn a lot from the kids and love being around them 🙂
Cassidy
Cassidy is a Junior at Fort Collins High School where she is one of their varsity cheerleaders. She’s been cheering competitively since grade school and has even competed in Oahu, Hawaii. Cassidy plans to cheer in college and hopes to attend Tulane to study Bio-medical Engineering. She loves reading historical fiction, hanging out with friends, and hiking all of the great Colorado trails. Cassidy loves working with kids and has loads of experience as a babysitter and elementary school volunteer.
Aayla
Aayla is a junior at Roosevelt High School and has been swimming competitively for over six years. She grew up in Johnstown and swims year-round with the Wahoos team. Her best event is the 200 backstroke. Besides schoolwork and swim practice, she loves to lift weights with her swim teammates. Aayla also enjoys hiking and making crafts. Aayla plans to swim in college but hasn’t decided where yet. She enjoys teaching kids at the Academy because she hopes to inspire others to enjoy swimming as much as she enjoys the sport.
Lauren S
Lauren grew up in Clovis, CA where she started swimming at the young age of five. She began competitive swimming with the Clovis East High School during her Junior and Senior years and quickly became an excellent distance freestyler. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at the Western Colorado University where she also swam for her first two years. She still holds the team’s record for the 1000 freestyle! Lauren is currently taking a gap year before starting her Master's program in political science in 2024. She has a cat named, Ms. Pretty (the cat’s government name is, Seashell). Lauren loves spending time with Ms. Pretty, going for walks, and reading.
Ashley
Ashley is currently a sophomore at CSU and is switching majors from biology/nursing to business and psychology. She grew up in Aurora where she started swimming competitively as a Junior in high school at Cherokee Trail HS. Her best events were all the freestyle events. Ashley began her collegiate career at the University of Nebraska Kerney before transferring to CSU. She enjoys hiking and all outdoor activities. She plays the violin, piano and guitar with the guitar being her favorite instrument. Ashley has two dogs, a chihuahua named Zoey and a chocolate lab named, Penny. thletes.
Kate H
Katie is currently a Junior at Windsor High School and swims for the Wahoos in Johnstown. She loves distance freestyle events and specializes in the 500 free. She's been swimming competitively since she was six years old and loves being on a team. Besides swimming, Kate enjoys all things outdoors including hiking. She currently works as a babysitter and is excited to be coaching swimming at our academy as well. Kate is an avid baker and loves to decorate cupcakes and cakes. Maybe it will lead to a future career or side gig.
Zeke
Zeke is a swimmer with the Fort Collins High School team as well as the Fort Collins Area Swim Team (FAST) for the past four years. His favorite events are the sprint freestyle and backstroke. He comes from a large family and has five siblings including a four-year-old brother. Zeke loves teaching little kids and enjoys seeing their smiles when they perfect a new skill or overcome a fear. Zeke currently loves to study math and physics and hopes to join the Marines in the future.
Chris
National Elite Coach
Coach Chris is originally from Pittsburgh, PA where he attended and Swam for the University of Pittsburgh.
Chris started his career at the University and then moved on to USA swimming club coaching with Team Pittsburgh Aquatics in the early 2000’s. Early on, it was obvious that he had found his niche, as he helped the program produce multiple 2000 Olympic trials qualifiers.
He them moved to Carmel, Indiana where he continued to hone his skills with the Carmel Swim Club, one to the top programs in the US. In Carmel, he continued to produce athletes who swam at the highest levels. Carmel High School won 5 straight state championships and the club produced multiple 2008 Olympic trials qualifiers while becoming the first USA Swimming Gold Medal swim club in Indiana history.
In late 2009 Chris joined SwimMAC Carolina with Head Women’s Olympic Coach David Marsh. In his time in Charlotte, he led the senior programming and spent time assisting with TEAM ELITE which is made up of U.S. Olympic and National Team members. During his time at SwimMAC the team won the 2012 Long Course Junior Nationals. Chris coached multiple U.S. Olympic trial qualifiers, 2 Junior Pan Pacific Team members, and an Olympian from Bermuda.
In 2012 Chris was sought out for the head coaching position with the Fort Collins Area Swim Team (FAST). The team and culture in Fort Collins thrived under his new leadership attracting swimmers from all over Colorado and neighboring states. In 2016, the program attained Gold Medal status (top 20 in the USA) which it has maintained for 3 consecutive years. Some of his other accomplishments include:
* 10 National Junior Team members
* 30+ Olympic Trails Qualifiers
* 25 Junior National Finalists
* 2016 USA Swimming Junior Pan Pacific Assistant Coach
* 2016 National Junior Team Coach
* 2016 Colorado Coach of the year
* 2015 National Junior Team Coach
* 2015 Colorado Coach of the year