Michael Bruno- Junior Olympic Coach

Michael Bruno comes to the MHDC from the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania.  After his middle school swim class teacher watched him jumping and practicing different flips during swim class, the coach suggested joining the high school swim/dive team when he became a freshman.  Shortly after joining, he fell in love with the sport and the wholesome community it garnered. Not having a local club made learning to dive more complicated, however, watching countless dive meets on YouTube and attending summer diving clubs in other states helped Michael to develop his skills and knowledge on and off the boards.  He eventually walked on to the Saint Bonaventure University diving team where he won the gold medal for 3m his senior year.  Now as a member of the coaching staff for the MHDC, Michael shares the lifelong lessons he has acquired from countless coaches, use his failures and successes to encourage athletes to hone their own skills, make lifelong friends and to have fun competing in one of the most complex sports in the world. 

Nathan Baeckeland- volunteer coach

Nathan was born and raised in Belgium. Following in the footsteps of older siblings, he started trampoline gymnastics at a very young age. After 13 years in gymnastics, he made the transition to diving. He trained in the Netherlands, and one year in the USA where he was a visiting student at the University of Minnesota. He competed nationally and internationally and represented Belgium at the 2020 Grand Prix in Rostock and the 2021 Fina world cup in Tokyo. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Leuven, Belgium. After graduating and retiring from diving, he crossed the Atlantic again to work in Colorado.

Hanos Mahari - Junior Olympic Coach

Hanos grew up in St. Michael, Minnesota where he started diving at the age of 12 to learn how to do backflips and frontflips to celebrate for after he scored goals in soccer!  He found success in high school, where he stills hold records, and wanted to continue the sport in college.  He graduated in 2019 from St. Cloud State University where he was captain his senior year, won 1 meter at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, as well as went to nationals and was named 2-time All-American Honorable Mention. After college he pursued a Master's at Minnesota State University Mankato and coached there from 2019-2023.  During his time there he set new records for the program by tripling the size of the diving program and being the first ever in program history to have 5 girls on 3 meter and 6 girls on 1 meter in the top 8 at finals at conference!  Hanos was names NSIC Diving Coach of the Year and was consistently able to qualify divers to the NCAA Division II Championship.  He recently moved to Colorado for a new job in sales and is so excited to join Mile High.  He says, "I have had such an amazing experience with diving that I just want to give back to everyone involved and help the kids grow as an athlete and an individual!"  

Lilly Seltz- Junior Olympic Coach

Lilly dived for 7 years, as well as did gymnastics and competitive trampoline for 8 years. She has two diving state records in Iowa and has won a National Championship for elite synchronized trampoline. She has coached gymnastics for 2 years and is super excited to have moved to Colorado and to join this team to coach diving!  We feel blessed that Lilly gets to coach your kids, her calm demeanor and technical corrections always make kids smile.  

Andrew Hull- Junior Olympic Coach

Andrew grew up in Denver, CO and dove for East High School. He was awarded Colorado diver of the year in 2012. He dove for Indiana University from 2012-2014 and for the University of Iowa from 2015-2016. In 2014 he placed 3rd at the NCAA Zone championship meet. That following summer, he placed 4th in the USA Diving senior national championships in 2013 and 2014 in the synchronized 10-meter event, and 12th in the individual 10-meter event in 2014. He completed his degree in Human Physiology in December of 2016 and was the assistant diving coach for the University of Iowa during the 2016-2017 NCAA season.  We are very fortunate to have Andrew work with our kids while he is attending Med School.  

Brayden Schachle- Junior Olympic Coach

Brayden grew up in Wasilla, Alaska.  He started diving at the age of 16 after doing three years of gymnastics.  He trained at Mile High Dive Club for his last semester of high school before receiving a scholarship to dive at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he competed both springboard and platform.  Brayden also trained and worked at Ripfest Diving Academy for a year, in Arcadia, Indiana.  Brayden graduated with a pre-law degree in legal studies and philosophy, as he plans to go onto law school in the future.  Brayden began coaching his high school dive team 5 years ago and has done so every time he has had the chance to go back to Alaska!  He enjoys helping kids achieve their goals and full potential in and out of the pool.

Zora Opalka- Junior Olympic Coach

Zora grew up on a small island off the coast of Seattle. After realizing swimming was too boring, she began diving for fun with a small Rec program.  After spending summers doing dive camps, she fell in love with the sport and worked hard to become the Washington state champion.  She went on to dive for the University of Denver where she currently holds the school record on 1m and Platform.  During 2020, she trained with Ripfest Diving Academy where she earned the opportunity to represent her country of dual citizenship, Slovakia.  She has competed in two Grand Prix (Canada, Bolzano) as well as European Championships and invitationals in Austria and the Czech Republic.  Zora helped coach at Ripfest and has experience coaching high school teams in Washington.  She is pursuing her Master’s degree in Business Marketing at DU.  She has found so much joy in accomplishing goals in diving and can’t wait to extend the love of the sport to everyone she works with!

Charlie Clifton- Junior Olympic Coach

Charlie is originally from Nashville!  He dove with Middle Tennessee Diving under Tim Jones and was a two-time state champion and an All-American from 2012-2016.  He placed 6th at USA Diving Nationals in 2016 on 1-meter.  From there, Charlie went on to dive at the University of Georgia where he qualified for NCAA championships in 2017 on both 1m and 3m springboards and competed at the SEC Championships his freshman and sophomore year on springboard and platform.  His collegiate athletic career ended when he medically DQ'd his senior year which led to the birth of his coaching career as he became the graduate assistant coach for the University of Georgia under 2012 Olympian Chris Colwill.  Charlie graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Sports Management, and also holds a Master’s degree in Science of Education, with an emphasis in Sports management and Policy.  Charlie recently moved out to Colorado in January of 2022 for a new job in software sales.  We are very fortunate to have Charlie on our staff and can see how he enriches the lives of your children with his positive energy! 

Kyle Goodwin - Junior Olympic Coach

Kyle started out at MHDC as a little ripper when he was 10. He attended Regis Jesuit High School where he won state four years and became the Colorado state record holder. He went on to dive at the University of Missouri from 2015-2019. At Mizzou, he placed 3rd on the 1 meter during the 2019 SEC Championships as well as competed at NCAA Championships all four years and became an All American Honorable Mention on 1 meter, 3 meter, and platform.  He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Graphic Design as well as minors in Business and Art History. Since graduating in Kyle taken up advertising design, as well as coaching.  We are very lucky to have him with our staff even though Kyle is frequently out of state.  

Sal Strack- Stength and Conditioning Coach

Sal comes to us from San Diego where he worked as a Strength & Conditioning Coach for San Diego State University for six years.  He has specialized experience in the foundational movements and sport specific training unique to divers.  Sal’s education includes a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and is one presentation away from earning his Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology.  He has made a significant impact on the strength levels, overall lifting technique, and recovery periods for our program.  The kids have seen major gains in overall muscular strength and a decrease in injury.  Sal has a strong focus geared towards working with the team on prehab movements as well as following through with them on rehabilitative exercises.  We are very fortunate to have Sal as a member of our team!