Coaches

This is Krista's 4th year as Head Coach of the Fossil Ridge Girls Swim and Dive Team.  Krista has been a swimmer since she was 7 years old.  She started swimming summer club and loved it so much that she began full year club swimming at the age of 10.  Krista grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and competed on the Cincinnati Marlins. The Marlins were National champions and was home to many Olympians.  Krista was a Junior National Champion and record holder and was also an Olympic Trial qualifier.  She was a high school All-American many times over and her high school team won the 5a State Title 2 times while she was on the team.  Krista swam on a full ride athletic scholarship for Colorado State University where she was a Conference Champion and captain of the team.  After college Krista competed and won her age group at numerous triathlons across the state of Florida and Colorado.  

Krista has coached a very competitive summer club in Cincinnati, Master's at North Jeffco and has taught private lessons for many years.  She was a strength and dryland coach for Fossil Ridge for 2 years  as well as an assistant coach for Fossil Ridge girl's swim team.  Krista still loves to run, cycle, lift weights and do classes at the gym.  She has 3 children who all swam for Fossil Ridge and FAST.  All 3 of her children swam at different levels in college so she has had a wide variety of experiences with each of their swimming careers.  Krista has been married to her college sweat heart, Nick for 33 years.

Contact: knero@psdschools.org

Sandy Hicks is back as an assistant coach after a year as head coach for Poudre.  She swam in high school, rowed on the crew team in college and is an experienced open water swimmer (she has completed the Horsetooth 10k swim and swam a relay across the English Channel!)

She is a retired Environmental Engineer, and spends her time swimming, biking, skiing and spending time with her two sons (both former swimmers) and her husband Charlie.  She is happy to be back working with Krista and the Fossil girls!

Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Josh has been swimming competitively since he was 13. He was co-captain of his high school swim team (Central Catholic High School), and swam on the local USS club team (Woodland Hills Aquatic Club) throughout high school. He then went on to swim for Ithaca College (NCAA, D3), where he competed in the 200/500/1000/1650 Freestyle events. During his time in college Josh also organized and ran many learn-to-swim camps and private swim lessons for all levels of swimmers. His teammates and the Ithaca High School head coach started Swim Ithaca, a year-round club team for the local age group swimmers looking for more training. After a 15-year hiatus from the water, Josh decided to jump back in the pool with FAST Masters in 2026, and has been loving the swimming community in Fort Collins. Since moving to Northern CO in 2016, Josh has been a practicing Licensed Massage Therapist with a focus in sports massage and injury recovery. He has been an instructor for new massage therapists since 2025 and loves watching his students grow in skills and confidence. With Josh’s specific life experience and wealth of knowledge in swim technique, skill development, anatomy and physiology, mental wellness, and experience at a high level of swim competition, he hopes to build the foundations for fast and fun swimming. He is very excited to bring his “work-hard, play-hard” attitude to Fossil Ridge Swim & Dive.