Coaching Staff

Emma Willing
Head Coach

Hi! My name is Coach Emma, and I'm so excited to return to another year coaching with 5280 Synchro!

I began swimming in the 3rd grade back in New York and competed for a total of 14 years at a national level. I attended Wheaton College in MA from 2013-2017, earning a dual degree in studio art and psychology all while being a varsity collegiate student-athlete. During my four years in college, I earned 4 all-academic awards and 4 all-collegiate awards for my athletic achievements. I was a 3-year captain of our team and helped earn our college a 5th place title. Personally, I earned a 4th place USA Synchro National Figure!

I believe Synchro is the ultimate team sport because we thrive on the interdependency among our teammates. I truly believe that synchronized swimming shapes strong and dedicated athletes! This sport works more than just the body, it works our minds, our social skills, and our creativity. Swimmers learn how to work in a team setting under stress and to rely heavily on their teammates, creating a strong commitment within our swimmers.

This will be my 3rd year coaching with 5280! I believe that our team offers the best of our sport by having both a recreational team and a competitive traveling team. This allows us to give our swimmers the options that work best in their busy lives. Our Coaches work hard to make sure we aren't just building strong swimmers but we are building strong adults!

Becky Meitin

I began synchro my sophomore year of high school in Berea, Ohio, when my best friend wanted to go try out for the club team and high school team. She quit after the first year, and I have been involved off and on since. I swam at Florida State University for four years as an undergraduate and one year of graduate school before I went to Africa for eight months of field projects. I was president of the club my senior year and that team "competed" in creative aquatics, which was more like modern dance.

After grad school I moved to Boulder to work at NCAR, and started to helped coach the Boulder Aquateens (now 5280). My college duet partner was also living in boulder and we started to competed again in creative aquatics for about two years.Taking off some time for job and family until 1989 when Boulder Country Club asked me to start a class there. I had some really good girls (including my daughter!), and they competed as BCC that year - the next year they joined Aquateens and competed there, when I was asked to be the head coach.

I coached seven successful years with Aquateens - we were usually in the 40s in membership, and routinely won the Regional Trophy. In 2001 I started swimming again in Masters swimming along with coaching. The first three years I swam solo in my age group, and a team in the 30s with several local coaches. I won solo every year, which was a surprise to me, and the team was second once and fourth twice. After that, they decided they wanted to swim in the 20s, and I just did solo for a few years. I went to my first World Masters in 2004 in Riccione, Italy, and placed fifth. It was quite exciting to swim off and hear your scores read in Italian! After that, I was hooked, and went to Worlds in Perth, Australia, San Francisco, Sweden, back in Riccione, Montreal and Budapest.

I stopped coaching Angelfish after I got cancer in 2010 (though I did compete in Sweden six weeks after surgery and placed fourth). After a couple years, I came back as figures coach for Aquateens, and then a couple years as that and coach for some routines. When I was no longer needed there, I went to coach Orcas for a couple years. Now, I am happily back at Aquateens/5280. I've also taken a break from Masters, after my daughter and I won duets at Nationals in October 2016, but started working out again this summer. Carol and I will hopefully swim together, and we hope to get a Masters' class of new people (interested parents!) soon.

I love watching the swimmers grow into confident, talented people, in addition to learning a sport they can do for life.

Karen Buri

Hi, my name is Coach Karen! I’m excited to join 5280 Synchro as an Intermediate coach this season. I swam for the Boulder Aquateens (which transitioned into 5280 Synchro) for five years during middle and high school. I have been a lifeguard and swim lesson instructor for five years at the Louisville Rec Center, and this past summer I worked as a camp counselor at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp. I am currently studying trumpet performance at the University of Colorado Boulder. Synchronized swimming is an incredible sport that instills discipline, builds confidence, and inspires creativity, and I’m happy to be back in the synchro world!

Robyn Bostley

Hi, my name is Coach Robyn! I am excited to be a part of the 5280 team as a parent, Program Director, former swimmer and Novice coach! I am a Boulder native and love the outdoors, mountains and, of course, the water! I started swimming in the Boulder Valley Summer Swim league as a young kid and swam competitively through high school. In junior high, I was part of the Aquateens team for two years and learned what a wonderful sport synchro is! After high school, I attended Arizona State University and studied vocal performance. I have shared my love of music with young children for over 20 years now as a preschool music teacher and classroom teacher. Coaching the Novice team is the perfect blend of music, teaching and fun! Synchro combines amazing athletic ability with creativity of movement and music.
I live in Boulder with my husband, PJ, and our two children, Felix (15 and cellist) and Gwen (13 and Age Group swimmer and singer). We love skiing, being in the mountains and taking our wild Portuguese Water Dog, Zeno, for long walks!

Dania Zinner

Hi, my name is Coach Dania. I swam for the Colorado Novas in Colorado Springs for middle and high school and coached for Boulder Aquateens for many years while I was going to the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Colorado Denver for my degrees in environmental engineering. Now I work for the EPA in Denver and help out 5280 Synchro with small/individual routines and substitute coach when I can. I love coaching synchronized swimming and think it is a great way to learn confidence, teamwork, and to have fun! Definitely a sport for all ages and excited that we now have mixed duet and other exciting competition categories. Hope to see you in the pool! :)

Carol Clayton

Hi! My name is Coach Carol, and I'm so excited to help fellow synchronized swimmers perfect their sport!

I’m from California and began swimming when I was 4. I joined East Side Swim Club and won my first racing medal when I was 5. A few years later, under the advice of Olympic Coach George Haynes, I started specializing in long distance swimming. Someone suggested that the same type of endurance was also used in synchronized swimming. Bored of laps, I joined the Santa Clara Aquamaids, world champion synchronized swim team under coach Kay Vilen. Eventually in USA national competition, I placed 3rd in team routines, second in duets and a gold medal in figures.

I attended college at CU boulder, where I majored in just about everything at one time or another. Other than jobs working as a coach and swim instructor, I’ve been a bio-chemist, a software engineer, systems analyst, teacher, and professional photographer. My favorite job (till now) was when I was hired to put on a 200 girl water ballet in Hawaii off of Waikiki Beach as a part of America’s bicentennial celebration. The girls’ ages ranged from 6-36 and their swimming ability ranged from never before having their head under the water to intermediate synchro competitors. Nevertheless, with a lot of support (despite salt water and mild ocean waves) in 3 months’ time we put on an amazing extravaganza with over 10,000 spectators. There was a floating island stage, Hawaiian fire dancers, U.S. Airforce parachuters, and synchronized swimming routines involving up to a hundred girls at a time.

From personal experience, I can say that the lessons I learned from Synchronized Swimming helped me achieve success throughout my life. Figure training taught me to concentrate my full energy in achieving goals, even under adverse circumstances. Team routines taught me to work well with other people and to realize that everyone benefits when even one person advances. My goal this season is to help our athletes advance in our sport from a technical level.