Coach Chris was born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota, where he competed for the Orcas Swim Club. He was a letter winner as a swimmer in high school, where he was a four-time NISCA All-American and state champion in the 500 freestyle in his senior year. Chris then came to swim for the Hawkeyes; he competed in three Big Ten championships and attending the Division 1 NCAA championships as an alternate. During his time as a Hawkeye, he achieved three top-ten Iowa all-time top performances in the 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly, and 100 backstroke. Chris graduated from the University of Iowa in the spring of 2015 with a degree in Recreation and Sports Business.

Coach Chris joined Iowa Flyers Swim Club in the summer of 2015, working closely with the Performance groups before accepting the IFLY Associate Head Coach postition in September 2016. Most recently, Coach Chris worked with IFLY's Senior Performance Summer National qualifiers (Heidi Stalkfleet and Aurora Roghair) as they prepared for the 2021 Summer Nationals in Irvine, CA. There, Aurora Roghair finished with three top 3 finishes, including a first place finish in the 1500m Freestyle.

Coach Mady has coached for IFLY for the last four years, serving as Head Age Group Coach since April 2024. She grew up in Cary, Illinois and began her swimming journey at the summer league known as Trails. She went on to swim for Barrington Swim Club under Rob Emary, where she was a district champion, traveled all over the US competing and gained valuable knowledge at high-level meets.  Mady swam for Dundee Crown High School, where she earned MVP both her sophomore and senior year while also serving as a team captain her senior year. Coach Mady owes a lot of her success to Coach Rob Emary as his coaching style heavily influences how she coaches today.

Upon graduating high school, Mady committed to the University of Whitewater-Wisconsin. As a freshman, Mady recorded the No. 8 personal record times in program history in the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard backstroke, as well as led the 2020 WIAC conference with the number one seed time in the 200 backstroke. After her freshman year, Mady decided to hang up her goggles and instead funnel her love for the sport into coaching.

Mady transferred to the University of Iowa in 2021, earning her degree in Mass Communications and Journalism with a minor in Spanish in 2023. Outside of coaching, you'll find Coach Mady in the gym, running her photography business or hopping on a flight to somewhere new.

Since joining IFLY as Head Age Group Coach, Mady has played a key role in the team’s continued success and athlete development. Highlights of accomplishments include:

• 2nd place team finish at the 2025 Iowa Age Group State Championships
   

• 2025 LCM State Combined Team Champions
   

• 2024 USA Swimming Leadership Summit Invitee

• 2025-2027 IASI Age Group Committee Vice Chair 

• 2025 Central Zones 14&U Championships Assistant Coach
  Coached multiple athletes to achieve state, All-Star, and Zone qualifying times

Coach Mady is passionate about the sport and her athletes. She believes strongly in athlete accountability and providing her athletes with the tools to not only be successful in the pool, but successful in life. 

" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength habitually not taxed at all lay, but we must push through the obstruction." -William James

Coach Paul started swimming at the age of seven and has been on deck ever since. He began coaching after graduating from Oswego State in NY, where he was a two year captain and school record holder.

Since then he has coached for Summer Rec teams, club teams, and collegiately. Most recently, he was Head Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving coach at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. During his 12 seasons there he was named Landmark Conference Coach of the Year 8 times and led the team to 5 Conference Championships, including the first Men's/Women's title sweep in league history in 2020.

Paul is now the Recruitment Coordinator for the University of Iowa's College of Education. He lives in Iowa City with his wife, Maia, his daughter, Maeve, and his son, Joe. Both Maeve and Joe are IFLYers!

Blanca has been in the swimming world since she was 10. During high school she competed for the Walnut Creek , California National swim team and competed at Junior Nationals in multiple years. Swimming collegiately for the University of Kansas , her specialty events were the 100 and 200 Butterfly. While in college she also swam for the Puerto Rican National swim team and placed 3rd in the 1988 Central American Games in Mexico. That year, she swam a 200 butterfly that set a U.S. Masters national record time that stood for 18 years.

Following graduation from KU, Blanca attended UCLA where she earned her Master's Degree and joined an ocean swim team and competed in Pacific Ocean open water races. After teaching junior high school and high school in southern California she relocated to Iowa to raise a family.

After taking six years off from swimming, she jumped back into the pool again in 1997. Blanca found the joy of competing at the national level in Masters swimming. In the 2002 Masters National Meet she finished in the top four in four events and won the national championship in the 200 butterfly. In the 2006 FINA World Master's Championships Blanca finished with two top ten performances.

Blanca has been a USA Swimming certified coach for the past 18 years, working with age group swimmers with a wide range of ability levels in eastern Iowa. Blanca and her husband Rod have three children (Anthony, Tereysa and Mariana).

They say "Do what made you happy when you were 10 . . ." That brought Coach Jan to IFLY as a Masters swimmer and now as a coach!

Coach Jan grew up in Omaha and started club swimming and diving at age 8. After a move to Deerfield, Illinois, she swam and dove in high school (6th in state in diving, state qualifier in 100 butterfly) and was a diver in college at University of Miami in Florida, where she was an NCAA qualifier in the 3M springboard. Go Canes!

Her aquatic life has included teaching lessons, coaching a club team, as well as synchronized swimming, scuba diving, and underwater hockey. Jan now lives in Williamsburg, Iowa, with a little hobby farm (2 horses, 4 dogs, and 10 cats). Her daughter was a collegiate soccer player and her son is a former high school divisional wrestling participant.

Coach Michelle has loved being in the pool since the age of 10 when she joined the Burlington Swim Team. Her favorite strokes still are freestyle and butterfly. Michelle continued getting stronger and more experienced as a high school competitor and state qualifier for Burlington High School. She proceeded to swim in college at the University of Northern Iowa. 

Coach Michelle has been active in the Iowa City swimming community for over 20 years; coaching club (7 years for ICE, 10+ years for IFLY), junior high (SEJH, NCJH, and NWJH), and served as the assistant varsity girls coach at Iowa City High for five years. Coach Michelle currently also serves as a junior high and high school swimming official, including over 8 years selection as one of the 8 officials at the Iowa High School Girls' meet. 

Coach Michelle's works full time as OBGYN Clinic Manager at University of Iowa Hospital's Main Campus.  Her most important role is mom to her son, Tristan and daughter, Tenley.

Coach Julia has been a lifelong swimmer and water polo player, receiving all-conference, all-sectional, all-state and Athlete of the Year honors in 2019. She started coaching at the age of 16, and has been an active member of the USA Swimming Coach community for 8 years. She's a 2023 graduate from the University of Iowa with a BBA in Marketing, a BBA in Finance, and a minor in Psychology.

Coach Julia also serves the Iowa Swimming LSC as the Communications Coordinator.

Coach Aariana Roberson is a dedicated and passionate leader who brings years of swimming expertise to the IFLY swim team. With a strong background in competitive swimming and coaching, Aariana focuses on cultivating a supportive and challenging environment for athletes to thrive.

Her coaching philosophy emphasizes technical excellence, goal-setting, and the development of a resilient mindset both in and out of the pool. Aariana takes pride in helping swimmers improve their performances while also fostering a love for the sport and teamwork.

She is thrilled to be a part of the IFLY coaching staff and looks forward to guiding swimmers toward achieving their full potential.

"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast." -Navy Seals

Amelia grew up in North Liberty, always in the water. She took swim lessons throughout her life, became a breaststroker and then became a lifeguard as well as a swim instructor. When the time came, she also became a swim coach! 

Inspired by friends and family, she comes from a long line of different types of athletic coaches and many musicians! She hopes to keep the love of swimming alive amongst everyone she meets by encouraging them to do their best while also having fun. Just like Finding Nemo, you have to "Just Keep Swimming!".