Meet Our Coaches
Mary Liesegang
Interim Head Coach, Vice President
Coach Mary has been coaching in San Diego for five years. She fell in love with synchronized swimming in college at Boston University and competed as a student athlete all four years. Her synchro career culminated in a second place finish in figures at Collegiate Nationals in 2018. She has experience coaching athletes of all levels and supports club operations and management as a Board of Director. Between coaching and her career in marine biology, if Mary is not physically in the water, she is usually thinking about it.
Alexandra Suarez
Youth Team Coach
Coach Alex joined San Dieguito Synchro as a swimmer when she was 9. She was a member of the 2015 Youth National Team. In 2016, she moved to the Bay Area to train full time with the US Senior National team to compete at the World Championships in Budapest. During this time she placed third at the US Open in Junior Solo. She continued her synchro career by competing as a student athlete for Stanford University where she was a 3 time Collegiate All American and 2021 Collegiate National Champion. She has moved back to San Diego to work in product design and lead our Youth team.
Lorena Oblitas
Intermediate Coach and Mindfulness Instructor
Coach Lorena grew up on the coast of Lima, Peru and first learned to swim in the ocean through the waves. Coach Lorena's experience is in yoga, weightlifting, swimming, dance, and biking. She started coaching while studying Electrical Engineering in college and found that focusing on her health, balance, discipline and endorphins provided her mental strength to solve problems and study. Her coaching focus is in building stamina, proper alignment, core strength and bringing sustainability to the body so it can move and maintain health. She finds the way of moving through water in artistic swimming shapes and forms to be one of the biggest challenges and rewarding once the figures and choreography are attained.
Aiko Gervacio-Denda
Novice Coach
Coach Aiko is a former Santa Clara Aquamaid swimmer/coach with a competitive swimming and gymnastics background. She has been swimming since she was 5 years old, but really fell in love with synchro when she was 11. Coach Aiko has experience coaching both Intermediate/Novice and Competitive teams and has coached girls from the ages of 4-16. Originally from the Bay Area, Coach Aiko is studying pre-med Biology at UCSD.
Torrey Hirning
Speed Swimming Coach
Coach Torrey grew up participating in water sports. She has 6 years of swimming experience and 6 years of water polo experience as an athlete. She played water polo at Palomar College, winning the conference championships alongside her team in 2017. Since then, she has been teaching swim lessons and joined our coaching team in 2022 to lead the speed swimming and endurance component of training. In her free time, she loves to do art, spend time at the beach, and drink lots of coffee!