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With high school water polo competition already underway in Michigan, and Junior Olympics well in the books, the summer draws to a close with a slough of movement within the ranks of interscholastic coaches. A review of just some of the notable changes that made the news in the past three months:
- The Scots of Monmouth College make their CWPA debut in just a few weeks, but only after promoting Tom Burek to Aquatics Director. This after his predecessor, former head swim coach Adam de la Pena, was hired as a swimming assistant at Brown University. De la Pena was instrumental in getting the formerly club-level water polo team elevated to varsity status at Monmouth.
- Former Cal and El Toro High standout Zach White is moving to Bloomington to fill the assistant coaching position recently vacated by new Caltech Head Coach Pat Beemer at Indiana University.
- According to sources, Natalie Golda Benson will be announced as the new head coach at Marist College within days. Her departure from the very successful Huntington Beach club she coached to a Junior Olympic Silver Medal last month was well publicized. Women of Water Polo and Coaching tweeted a congratulatory message to Benson on August 13 regarding her choice to take the job with the Red Foxes.
- The nomadic Ryan Castle has landed in Ann Arbor to assist Matt Anderson on the Michigan University women’s staff next spring. Castle was most recently the head coach of the women’s senior national team of Kazakhstan and assisted at Hartwick College.
- In prep water polo, St. Francis High School of Sacramento made a splash with its hiring of Olympian Heather Moody as its new girls’ varsity coach.In Agoura, CA, the replacement for the highly successful Dusty Litvak, who joins the UCLA men’s staff this fall, is Peter Schiavelli, Harvard-Westlake grad and Stanford standout.Orange County’s Estancia High School found their new girls’ varsity coach in-house, hiring Amber Peters to take the position.In New England, Fordham grad Connor Fortin gets the head varsity water polo coaching job at St. John’s Prep in Danvers, MA.Former Golden Valley, CA head coach Andy Seto makes a lateral move in taking over the boys’ varsity position at Sanger High School, which won a Central Section Division 3 championship in 2012.American Canyon High School, situated in California’s Napa Valley, has brought on Mackenzie Heys, Vintage HS alumna, to take over its boys’ and girls’ programs.More turnover at Morgan Hill, CA’s Live Oak High School, which has hired Ryan Gautschi to take over the boys’ varsity squad.
- And OCVarsity.com reported today that Jocelyn Manderino, Newport Harbor grad, has been named the boys and girls water polo coach at Northwood High School in Irvine.Meanwhile, USA Water Polo is looking for new assistant coaches for several men’s national teams, including the bench for the senior national team under Dejan Udovicic.
- And USA Water Polo’s Associate Director of Member Programs, Christy Medigovich,added the position of Commissioner of the Western Water Polo Association to her portfolio on August 7.
