Whittier College Poets : Swimming and Diving

	Justin Pudwill
	Men's Head Coach jpudwill@whittier.edu (562) 907-4916

Coach Pudwill is entering his second year at the helm of the Men's Swim team. In the 2007-2008 year the men enjoyed great success finishing 6^th at the S.C.I.A.C. conference meet. Coach Pudwill also had the S.C.I.A.C. swimmer of the year for the 2007-2008 season. The Whittier College men's team also qualified for the NCAA division III swim meet in Oxford, Ohio.

Coach Pudwill prides his program on building for the future. With a very new age approach to the swimming world Coach Pudwill enjoys great success working with maturing athletes and applying new training techniques to making his swimmers some of the fastest swimmers in the nation.

Although Coach Pudwill started his aquatics career at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach, CA as a water polo player, he enjoyed rapid success in swimming once he moved to Baytown, Texas. There he was one of the fastest swimmers in school history in 50 and 100 freestyle.

Coach Pudwill majored in Sports Management at Salem International University in Salem, West Virginia. While there he was a member of the baseball, swimming and water polo teams, earning Academic All-American honors in all three sports. Salem International is a NCAA Division II school, and participated in the W.V.I.A.C.

Pudwill has been both a water polo and swimming coach since 2000 in Texas and California. He began his coaching career at Ross S. Sterling High School in Baytown, Texas where he was an assistant for the swimming and water polo programs. During his time with Ross S. Sterling High School, Coach Pudwill helped develop some of the best swimmers in the schools history. Sterling qualified a number of swimmers for the state swim meet while he was at Sterling. Enjoying his coaching duties at Ross S. Sterling Coach Pudwill also helped the Baytown Buccaneers develop into one of the finest feeder swim teams in the Houston area. Coach Pudwill developed over 120 kids every year and captured three small team division titles, back to back to back, undefeated each year. Coach Pudwill has also helped over 50 athletes develop the skills necessary to compete in NCAA Swim programs all over the country.

Prior coming to Whittier College Coach Pudwill was an assistant Head Coach at Huntington Beach high school. During his short time there the Huntington Beach high school program enjoyed one of their best years ever finishing 3^rd in the Sea View league on the girls side, while enjoying one of the best enrollment years with over 100 swimmers in the program.

	Brian Anderson
	Men's Assistant Coach banderson@whittier.edu

Brian is entering his first season as a member of the Poets swimming coaching staff. He attended California State University of Long Beach, where he earned a degree in History. Before attending Long Beach State he was a four year Varsity Letterman in Water Polo and Swimming at Huntington Beach High School. There he received the 2001 coaches' award, 2002 team captain award, and 2001 and 2002 All-Sunset League team honors.

Brian started coaching in 2002 at his alma mater high school. There he was the frosh soph coach in 2002, and then in 2003 he became the varsity assistant coach. After a short stint off to concentrate on academics he returned to Huntington Beach High School in 2006 to become an assistant Varsity Boys and Girls water polo and swim coach. While at Huntington Brain has coached some of the finest swimmers and water polo players ever to come out of that high school.

	Todd Jacobsen
	Assistant Coach (562) 907-4916

Todd Jacobsen has joined the Whittier College Men's and Women's Swimming program this year as an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator. And while new to the Whittier College aquatics program, he is certainly not new to the aquatics world with over 30 years of experience in and around pools.

Jacobsen was a four-time All-American in swimming at UC San Diego as a Butterfly and IM specialist. Before that he enjoyed a highly decorated high school and age group career in both Water Polo and Swimming, being a Junior National Qualifier as well as a multiple regional Junior Olympic Champion.

Coach Jacobsen has spent the last few years as a member of the UC Irvine Men's and Women's Swimming Staff, where he enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with numerous NCAA Div 1 All-Americans, including a member of the USA Pan American Team in 2007 and a member of the USA World Championship Team in 2008. A number of his former swimmers will be competing at the Olympic Trials this year in Omaha.

Coach Jacobsen is also the Founder and Head Coach of the La Mirada Armada Water Polo Club, an age group program that is distinguishing itself in the pool and in the classroom. The Armada WPC currently boasts over 100 high school aged student athletes, with at least two of its current Seniors headed to Whittier College in the Fall.

	Allison Hedgpeth
	Women's Head Coach ahedgpeth@whittier.edu

Coach Hedgpeth enters her first year as head coach for the Poets after serving as an Assistant Coach last season. Her athletic career began at the age thirteen as she entered high school at Edison in Hunnington Beach. During this time she led her varsity water polo team as a three-time MVP and two-time Captain. She was selected as First Team All-Sunset League player her sophomore through senior year and was invited to play on the Southern California Zone Team. Over the four years of high school, she also served as a vital component of the Charger's varsity swim team as a competitive breaststroker and distance swimmer.

In the fall of 2001, Hedgpeth continued her water polo career by accepting a scholarship to play at NCAA Division II institution, California State University, Bakersfield. During her time as CSUB, Hedgpeth served as the team's leading 2 Meter Player and was awarded MVP all four years of her collegiate career. She also served as the team's captain for two years. In June of 2005, Allison graduated with her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology.

As she begins her new leadership in the program, she plans to work towards taking these young women to a SCIAC Championship and allow them to experience an NCAA Tournament. Allison and her husband, Glenn, currently reside in Brea.

	Stacey Travous
	Women's Assistant Coach

Coach Travous joins Whittier College aquatics for her first year of coaching after graduating from Wagner College. Stacey began her water polo career as she entered high school and was quickly shaped into a phenomenal player. While attending Tulare Western High School in Tulare, California, Travous lead the team to three conference championships and the team placed third in the central valley championships. After a family move, she finished her high school career at Cumberland Valley High School in Pennsylvania, which resulted in a state water polo championship.

Travous continued her career at NCAA Division I University, Wagner College where she was named Rookie of the Year and in 2004, two-time Second Team All-Conference, two-time First Team All-Conference, and three-time All-MACC Academic Team. Stacey graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, with a concentration in Biochemistry.

The Poets are extremely thrilled to have Coach Travous on board and are excited to see what she brings to the program. Stacey has made it her goal to see this program make it to the NCAA Tournament.