Coach Atchison is a Colorado native, growing up in Littleton.  She attended Heritage High School where she was a Liberty Belle (pom).  After graduating, she moved to California for college.  She attended Scripps College where she majored in English with a minor in dance.  She then attended Claremont Graduate University where she earned her Masters degree in Education.  After 9 years of teaching and coaching in Southern California, she moved back to Colorado. 

Coach Atchison is part of the original staff when Mountain Vista opened and is currently in her 34th year of teaching and 25^th year of coaching.  She is the original pom coach for Vista and has seen great successes in this program. 

For 15 years, Coach Atchison served as a board member for the Colorado Spirit Coaches Association and the Colorado High School Coaches Association to constantly improve the sport of Spirit.  She is currently the CHSAA Dance Liaison, working with our CHSAA Commissioner to serve all pom coaches in the State. She has been named Coach of the Year for the Continental League 8 times and in 2008 and 2021 was chosen as the Colorado Dance Coach of the year. In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Dale Yost Teacher/Coach of the Year by the Colorado High School Coaches Association. In 2022, she was recognized as a National Coach of the Year finalist at the Nationals Coaches Convention. She is most proud of her induction into the Colorado High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2024. She is the first pom coach and only the second spirit coach to receive this honor.

The Vista Varsity Poms have captured 15 League and 17 Regional titles in Pom, Jazz and Hip-Hop, as well as 10 5A State titles and five State Runner-ups.  Vista Poms is the only team in the State of Colorado to hold State titles in all 3 dance divisions: Pom (2006, 2008, 2009) Hip Hop (2013, 2014) and Jazz (2010, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2023). The team has traveled to the National Dance Team Championships in Orlando, Florida where the team has finished Top 5 in both Pom and Jazz several times and danced in finals for 12 straight years. Currently the team attends NDA Nationals where they captured their first National Championship in the Medium Jazz division in 2017 and again won that same division this past season. In addition, the Varsity Poms have been selected as the US National Junior Pom team for the 2024-2025 season.

Coach Atchison loves being able to make a living following her passion. Her goal each year is to push every young dancer who enters the program to graduate as a strong, confident, leader in the world.  She gets her support from her team, the parents, the community and most importantly her amazing family Ron and Britta. 

Coach Liz is a Mountain Vista Pom Alumni. She competed in the years 2006-2010 where she won three 5A Pom State Championships for Mountain Vista. She was part of the first state championship the program ever won in 2006. While she was on the team, Vista poms went undefeated in the state of Colorado in both Pom and Jazz for two years. They also placed top 5 at UDA nationals in both pom and jazz several times. She was a captain her senior year and was awarded the MVP “Most Valuable Pom” award at the end of her pom career with Vista.

Coach Liz went on to attend University of Colorado-Boulder where she continued to dance on the CU Buffaloes Dance Team. At CU, Liz competed at UDA college nationals for four years, winning top 5 in both pom and jazz her senior year. She also had the amazing opportunity to dance on the football field and basketball court for the CU Buffs. She was a captain of the dance team her senior year.

Along with dancing at CU Boulder, Coach Liz also earned her Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering. She graduated with the Ketchum award for Outstanding graduate of the Civil/Architectural/Environmental Engineering department and the Distinguished Senior award for the Civil Engineering department. She currently works at KL&A Structural Engineers and Builders designing the structure for commercial, residential, and other types of buildings. Recently, Coach Liz earned her Professional Engineering License.

Coach Liz is going on her eighth year of coaching at Vista. While Liz has been a coach at Vista, the Varsity team has won multiple League championships, Regional championships, and  State championships as well as multiple top three national finishes, including winning the program's first national championship in 2017 in Medium Jazz.

Coach Hayley is a Mountain Vista Pom Alumni. She competed in the years 2006-2010. She was on an undefeated JV team her freshman year and then moved up to Varsity where she won two 5A Pom State Championships for Mountain Vista. They also placed top 5 at UDA nationals in both pom and jazz several times.

Coach Hayley went on to attend University of Colorado-Boulder where she continued to dance on the CU Buffaloes Dance Team. At CU, Hayley competed at UDA college nationals for four years, winning top 5 in both pom and jazz her senior year. She also had the amazing opportunity to dance on the football field and basketball court for the CU Buffs. 

While at CU, Coach Hayley earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She went on to be an educational assistant for elementary students with special needs and was in that position for 5 years. She worked towards her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education and is currently in her 5th year teaching first grade at a local elementary school. She was recently nominated as the Apple Award recipient for her school.

This is Coach Hayley’s 8th year coaching and 5th at Mountain Vista. She first started coaching at a different high school down the road and helped them win their very first pom state championship, She went on to coach JV at Mountain Vista for a year and then moved up to Varsity. Coach Hayley is so proud to have helped Mountain Vista win many league, regional, and state titles and cannot wait to help grow such amazing dancers in the coming years!