Coaches

Our coaching team unites Olympic-caliber competitors and coaches, elite collegiate athletes, and accomplished educators - all devoted to cultivating poised, powerful, and high-achieving artistic swimmers. Our coaches are passionate about empowering our youth to achieve excellence as well as nurture them to develop the core values and skills to be successful in all aspects of their lives.

Loredona (Lolli) Montico

Head Coach

Lolli has a wide range of coaching experience spanning from the international to local level. Originally from Italy, Lolli coached the Italian Junior National Team and then the Italian Senior National Team towards the 2004 Olympic Gams in Athens, Greece. She later relocated to the UK where she worked with the British National Team from 2007-2014, collaborating with Elizabeth Price to lead the team to their home Olympic Games in London in 2012. Lolli then moved to the US to coach the Senior National Team from 2015-2018, working with the duet at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. She was then hired as the head coach of the Australian Olympic Team in 2020 to train them for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2021.

Lolli has coached at seven World Championships and eight European Championships, as well as four Down Syndrome World Championships. She is also the Artistic Swimming Technical Director for the Down Syndrome International Swimming Organization (DSICO). Lolli is currently the head coach for the San Francisco Merionettes and is the lead for the Junior and Youth teams as well.

Stephanie Lee

Youth/Junior Coach

Stephanie grew up in Alamo, CA and swam for the Walnut Creek Aquanuts for nine years beginning at age nine. Her career highlights include 1st place in team routine at Age Group Nationals and the US Open, as well as medals at Junior and Senior Nationals and representing the United States in the ASUA Cup. Stephanie attended Harvard University where she was a part of the Varsity water polo team, and she also attended Oxford for one year. Outside of the world of artistic swimming, she is a quantitative investment manager at Blackrock and mom to Valentine.

Sandra Ortellado

Youth/Junior Coach

Sandra, a distinguished artistic swimmer, earned recognition as a Collegiate All-American while representing Stanford University, achieving numerous medals at U.S. National Championships. She was also a member of the Senior National Team squad that won a bronze medal at the Pan American games in Toronto in 2015. In her professional life, she has seamlessly transitioned into a data scientist role. Beyond her corporate pursuits, Sandra finds fulfillment in training and nurturing the next generation of artistic swimmers, sharing her passion and expertise with aspiring athletes.

Trina Ranola

Youth Assistant Coach

Trina’s artistic swimming journey started with SFM at age 8. In her last competitive season, at 12 years old, she swam with an 18-19 age group team and finished out the year with an honorary 4th place at Nationals, swimming in 2015 Junior Olympics, and winning 2015 MVP. After leaving SFM, Trina pursued dance at Ruth Asawa SOTA in San Francisco, leading her to discover a love for makeup artistry.

Emily Terwelp

12&U Co-Lead Coach

Emily began her twelve-year artistic swimming career as an athlete in her home state of New Jersey where she swam with the Westfield Y Aquaducks for eight years beginning at age ten. She swam for University of Michigan's varsity artistic swimming team throughout college and held the position of team captain for two years. She also coached the Ann Arbor Aquarians during this time. Emily earned a Master's degree from Harvard, and she has worked for many years in social policy research and tech policy for Meta. Emily began coaching for SFM in 2018.

Heidi Homma

12&U Co-Lead Coach

Heidi grew up in Orinda, CA and began coaching for SFM in 2017 before taking a break during the pandemic and rejoining again in 2022. She began her artistic swimming career with the Walnut Creek Aquanuts when she was eight years old before moving to NorCal Synchro for two years. She was also a member of the Youth National Team for one summer and the Senior National Team for one year. Heidi's career highlights include Youth figures, solo, and trio national champion as well as competing in duet with her sister, when the pair competed in both the US and Japan Open.

Niloofar Esmaeeli

Executive Director, 10&U Coach

Niloofar began swimming at the age of six before eventually transitioning to artistic swimming and competing in the Iranian National Championship. She formed her own swim club in Iran at the age of 18 and led her swimmers to five consecutive 1st place finishes at the national level. Niloofar lived in Italy for two years conducting research on common injuries in artistic swimming and nutrition for this sport. She has both a Bachelor degree in sport science and a Master degree in sports physiology, the knowledge from which she believes is key to her ability to coach athletes to success. Niloo began coaching for SFM in 2023.

Charlotte Stewart

10&U Assistant Coach

Charlotte grew up in the Bay Area and began swimming for SFM at age nine before transitioning to coaching for the 2023-24 season. Charlotte's career highlights include 10th place in Junior technical team and 12th place in Junior free team at the 2022 Junior Olympics and 1st place in 16-19 acrobatic team at the 2023 Junior Olympics.

Sophia Tong

10&U Coach

Sophia began her artistic swimming career at 7 years old with the Santa Clara Aquamaids. She was a finalist for the 12&U National Team in 2014 and won first place (2014) and third place (2015) at Nationals and Junior Olympics. Sophia was a coach for Santa Clara’s novice/intermediate program from 2019-2020 before she went to UC Irvine for college. Sophia returned to the Bay Area for her master’s degree at Stanford and has started coaching with SFM in 2026.

Sofie Ravesteijn

Intermediate Coach

Sofie grew up in the Washington DC area where she competed for NoVa Synchro for 8 years. While attending the University of Virginia, she coached the Age Group teams at the Charlottesville Swans. Sofie has been a judge for the sport since age 15. Professionally, she currently works at a climate-tech startup as a technical project manager.

Cameron Hempstead

Novice Coach

Cameron is a Bay Area native and swam for the Santa Clara Aquamaids for eight years. Cameron's levels of competition include Age Group Nationals, US Open, Peru Aquatica Cup, Junior Nationals, and Senior Nationals. Cameron studied architecture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is currently working to become a licensed architect. In her free tie, she does flying trapeze at Circus Center in San Francisco.

Lucy Bautista

Novice Coach

Sophia Montgomery

Novice Assistant Coach

Sophia, mainly raised in San Francisco, initially pursued competitive rock climbing during the start of her synchro career. However, during COVID, she shifted to artistic swimming for its athletic challenge and teamwork. A key member of the SFM team in the last 6 years, she has competed in combo, team, and acrobat routines, earning the MVP title in 2022 and winning gold at Junior Olympics for the 2023 season. Specializing as a team flyer with an expertise in handstand lifts, Sophia is not only a dedicated competitor but a passionate mentor for our younger swimmers.

Mari Flores

DTC

Mari grew up in San Francisco and began swimming with the Merionettes at age eight. She is currently team captain of the SFM Junior team as well as a certified artistic swimming judge and technical controller. Mari's career highlights include 2nd place in Youth acrobatic team at the 2022 Junior Olympic Championship, 2nd in Youth combo and 4th in Youth team at the 2023 U.S. National Championship, and 1st in 16-19 acrobatic team, 2nd in Youth combo, and 4th in Youth team at the 2023 Junior Olympic Championship.