Olivia Leftwich is originally from Greenville, SC and now teaches Elementary Spanish at St. Patrick Catholic School and loves her job! She graduated from Centre College in 2015 with a degree in English and a minor in Spanish. Olivia has been a swimmer since she was 8 years old: starting with summer league, then moving to Team Greenville club team, and ending her career with 4 years on the Centre Varsity swim team. She still enjoys swimming for Louisville Masters in her free time. Her favorite strokes are backstroke and freestyle; her races were the 200 back and 500 freestyle.
She has over 14 years of coaching and private lesson experience ranging in ages from infants to adults. For her summer league team she implemented and ran a private stroke clinic for the 400 swimmers on the team. Her other hobbies include reading, cycling and spending time with family and friends (especially at the lake!) She is very excited to be a part of the Lake Forest community!
Robert returns to the Lake Forest Swim and Dive family as the head coach for the diving team. Robert is a USA diving coach member and helped coach our dive team last year. He grew up in Owensboro, KY where he was the head diving coach at Atlantis Swim Club. While at Atlantis, he coached the dive team to a first place overall finish at the Owensboro City Dive Championship.
As a diver himself, he has won several city and tri-state diving tournaments and was a two time Kentucky State championship diver.
Robert is an active leader with Boy Scout Troop 212 and has been an elementary, middle, and high school robotics coach for the last eight years.
Robert and his wife Whitney have been happily married for 24 years and have lived in Lake Forest since 2004. They have six children.
Professionally, Robert has a Masters of Engineering degree from the University of Louisville J.B. Speed School of Engineering. He is currently the CTO at the Louisville based company IGear Online.
Sophie Ritzenthaler grew up in Louisville, KY and was a part of the Lake Forest Swim Team for 9 years. She is currently a junior at Transylvania University with a double major in International Affairs and Spanish. She's been a swimmer since I was 6 years old; starting on a summer swim team, moving to Cardinal Aquatics club team, and currently swimming for Transy. She has been involved in coaching for 9 years and giving private lessons 5 years. Sophie is really excited to return to the Lake Forest Swim Team as coach and alum!!
Emerson Harned grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and started swimming when she was 5 years old; starting on a neighborhood team, then Cardinal Aquatics, and most recently, Sacred Heart Academy. She recently graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in May 2023, and will attend Saint Louis University in the fall. There, she will be majoring in political science. She has been giving lessons for three years, both privately and small group lessons ranging from ages 8 months-17 years old, and has been coaching for two years. Emerson is super excited to coach this year at Lake Forest!
Lilly Johnson grew up in Louisville, KY and has been swimming for Lake Forest for 13 years. She swam for Triton Swimming for 5 years, was a part of the Eastern High School swim team and soccer team for the past 4 years, and played 8 years of lacrosse. She is part of the 2023 graduating class, heading into her freshman year of college at Kent State University to study Visual Communication Design and committed to play lacrosse at the division 1 level. She has held leadership positions in all three sports and held clinics for younger girls learning to play lacrosse, as well as volunteered to help the 6 and under age group at practices in past years. She hopes to use her experiences to help young swimmers and is excited to continue and expand her involvement in the Lake Forest Swim Team as an assistant coach!