Hannah Groteguth All-NorCal HHopeope SStokestokes AAll-NorCalll-NorCal 1 Merced College is located 46 miles north of the mid-point of the state, in the center of the San Joaquin Valley. With a population of 81,743, Merced is small enough for comfort and large enough for convenience. It has an average temperature range of 48-95 degrees, with 12.5 inches of annual rainfall. It is set in the agricultural richness of the Valley but is proximate to some of the most dramatic attractions in the state. The San Francisco Bay Area is two hours’ drive to the northwest; the Pacifi c Ocean beaches of Monterey and Santa Cruz are two hours due west; Los Angeles and Hollywood are four hours south; Lake Tahoe/Reno, four hours northeast, Yosemite, two hours due east. Students at Merced College fi nd a pleasant environment for obtaining a fi rst-rate lower division education. The faculty is dedicated; the administration and staff are student-centric. In athletics, we pride ourselves on balancing intercollegiate completion with successful matriculation of academic purpose. We offer articulate paths to an A.A. degree, to certifi cate completion, and to four-year school and transfer. Through a wide variety of college- level disciplines, we serve equally students with polished academic resumes and those who require remedial course work. The Merced College motto says it all: “Students are our focus, and we are known by their success.” 2 Merced College Graduates that are or have been playing at 4-Year Schools: Nicole Hall - UC Davis Amanda Rucker - Cal. BapƟ st Kristen Franz - Cal State Northridge Kristy Rose - Cal. BapƟ st Shannon Halpin - San Diego State Sasha Versage - Sonoma State Megan Dunbar - San Diego State Chrystal Truman - Sonoma State KaƟ e Hill - Univ. of Hawaii Leslie Jackson - UC California Denise Parreira - Univ. of Hawaii Ashley Phelps - Sanoma State Kathrine Hayden - UC Santa Barbara Elise Schuetz - San Jose State Alicia Razzari - UC Berkeley Stephanie Salvi - Cal State Monterey Brooke Eisner - San Jose State Erin Lee - Cal State Monterey Angelia Miller - Hayward State Leilani Kekuewa - Cal Sate Monterey Genaye Mower - Cal State Northridge Jenn Dutcher - L.B.State Megan Roudabush - San Jose State Gabby BeƩ encourt -Cal. State Monterey Bay Beth Merlo - San Diego State Kailey Carter - Cal. State East Bay Sara Verral - Fresno State Rebekah Dawn - Cal. State East Bay Kara Castleton - Hayward State 3 For More Information Women’s Coach, Billy Halpin Cell: (209) 631-5784 School: (209) 384-6322 (Athletic Offi ce) FAX: (209) 384-6372 E-mail: [email protected] MERCED COLLEGE 3600 M STREET MERCED, CA 95348-2898 ADMISSIONS: (209) 384-6000 Web Sites: http://www.mccd.edu/athletics/womens/waterpolo/index.html http://www.mccd.edu/athletics/womens/swimming/index.html Ryan Randall Assistant Coach 4 TThehe CCoachoach Billy Halpin is an alumni of Merced College playing in 2003 and 2004. Upon graduating from Merced College with his Associates Degree, he continued his education and playing club at Chico State University earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology along with an Adapted Physical Education Credential and Special Education Credential. After College, Coach Halpin continued his coaching career at Golden Valley High School and Buhach Colony High School, before starting the Men’s and Women’s Water Polo and Swim teams at Livingston High School in 2011. He completed his Masters Degree from National University in 2016, and took over Women’s Aquatics at Merced College in the Spring of 2017. Being a product of Merced College himself, Coach Halpin envisions continuing a program that is successful both in and out of the pool. Billy Halpin Head Coach Coach Bill Halpin has been involved in water polo for over 40 years his come back as an assistant after 6 years away from coaching. He is a graduate of Merced High School, and Fresno State University. His water polo career started right after he graudated from high school when he played for Hall of Famer and Olympian Dave Ashleigh of Modesto. After graduating from Merced College in 1969, he transferred to Fresno State University where he lettered in both swimming and water polo. He graduated from FSU with a degree in recreation and physical education. His masters degree was earned at Chapman University 1976 He at fi rst coached club water polo in 1973. Then in 1974 became the fi rst water polo coach at Merced High School. In 11 years he had and overall record of 224-35. His teams won 5 CCC, and 1 Sac- Joaquin Section(1982) championships. His 1982 Merced Water Polo Club won the United States Junior National Championship. In 1979 he started girls water polo at Merced High. During this time he coached both the boys and girls teams. After 11 years coaching he became a water polo referee at the collegiate and high school levels. This lasted for 10 years. Bill Halpin In 1997 he made his move to Merced College coaching both the Assistant Coach women’s swim and water polo teams. His water polo record was 387-133 and made the Nor-Cal or State championships in 12 of 15 years. He was selected conference coach of the year 6 times, Nor- Cal Coach of the Year 3 times, and in 2001 he was named State Community College coach of the Year. In 2011 he was named both Coast Conference and Nor-Cal Coach of the Year. His swim team won fi ve Bay Valley Conference championships in a row (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011). His women’s swim teams were 57-11 in his last 8 years. Bill was inducted into the Merced County Hall of Fame in 1984. That was followed up in 2016 when he was inducted into the Merced 5 MMercederced CCollegeollege WWomen’somen’s WWaterater PPoloolo AAccomplishmentsccomplishments ffromrom 11996996 ttoo 22017017 ((2222 yyears)ears) 1100 RReasonseasons toto playplay atat MercedMerced CCollegeollege 11.. 5522 CCommunityommunity CCollegeollege AAll-Americasll-Americas 22.. 9 MMVPVP iinn NNorthernorthern CCaliforniaalifornia 33.. 8 LLeagueeague TTitlesitles 44.. 4 NNor-Calor-Cal TTitlesitles 55.. 1100 SStatetate CChampionshiphampionship TournamentsTournaments 66.. 1100 YYearsears fi nnishingishing thethe seasonseason 7tthh oorr bbetteretter iinn tthehe SStatetate CChampionshipshampionships 77.. 444444 - 119494 OOverallverall rrecordecord fforor ttwenty-twowenty-two yyearsears ((70.0%)70.0%) 88.. 5544 AAll-Nor-Calll-Nor-Cal pplayerslayers iinn ttwenty-onewenty-one yyearsears 99.. 2222 - TThehe aaverageverage nnumberumber ooff wwinsins a seasonseason forfor ttwenty-twowenty-two yearsyears 110.0. 3333 - PPlayerslayers tthathat wwentent oonn aandnd playedplayed aatt tthehe four-yearfour-year levellevel aafterfter MMercederced CCollegeollege AAllll TThishis IInn TTwentywenty (22)(22) YearsYears MAAKEKE MMERCEDERCED CCOLLEGEOLLEGE YYOUROUR NEXTNEXT SSTEP!TEP! 6 RRosteroster CAP# NAME YEAR SCHOOL - City 1 Regina Navarro (G) Frosh Buhach Colony - Atwater 2 Hope Stokes Frosh El Capitan - Merced 3 Desiree Morales Frosh La Sierra - Riverside 4 Hannah Groteguth Soph Turlock - Denair 5 Alexandrea Quinn Frosh Atwater - Atwater 7 Corinne Sherman Frosh Livingston - Livingston 10 Risa Kaneko Frosh Naha - Japan 12 Mariza Fuentes Frosh Livingston - Livingston 13 Natalie Perez Frosh Livingston - Livingston 14/1A Allison Basler Frosh Chowchilla - Chowchilla 15 Nereida Acevedo Frosh El Capitan - Merced 18 Meghan Myers Frosh Chowchilla - Chowchilla 7 WWomen’somen’s WaterWater PPoloolo SStatetate CChampionshipshampionships 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 1st Rio Hondo 1st Golden West 1st Golden West 1st Golden West 1st Golden West 2nd MERCED 2nd Orange Coast 2nd Grossmont 2nd Riverside 2nd Riverside 3rd Grossmont 3rd MERCED 3rd Sierra 3rd Sierra 3rd Sierra 4th Golden West 4th Grossmont 4th Riverside 4th Diablo Valley 4th Diablo Valley 5th Diablo Valley 5th MERCED 5th Ventura 5th Ventura 6th Riverside 6th Orange Coast 6th Modesto 6th Modesto 7th Sierra 7th Modesto 7th MERCED 7th MERCED 8th Modesto 8th Diablo Valley 8th Mt. San Antonio 8th Foothill 2001 2002 2003 2005 2011 1st Orange Coast 1st Long Beach 1st Long Beach 1st Riverside 1st Riverside 2nd Riverside 2nd Golden West 2nd Golden West 2nd Long Beach 2nd Golden West 3rd MERCED 3rd MERCED 3rd MERCED Participants 3rd Diablo Valley 4th Sierra 4th Sierra 4th Riverside Diablo Valley 4th MERCED 5th Long Beach 5th Orange Coast MERCED 6th Diablo Valley 6th Riverside 2004 Orange Coast 7th Mt. San Antonio 7th S.J. Delta 1st Long Beach Sierra 8th Foothill 8th Foothill 2nd Golden West 2005 Team that made the State Championships 8 CCollegeollege MMercederced WWhyhy Step Up to the Next Level...... • A Good Education - General education classes at a • Your Education Comes First - The most important thing community college are just as good as those taken at for athletes at Merced College is to stay on top of their studies. a university and will transfer to private, CSU and UC Merced does not have “red shirt” or other programs to keep campuses. Any student who completes the necessary units athletes around just to play polo. Hopefully students will be with a 2.8 or better will automatically be accepted into successful for two years then move on to a four year school to the State University system. Community colleges also earn a Bachelor’s Degree and possibly continue playing polo. offer Associate of Arts degrees for students who want to • Small Schools... Lots of Attention - Merced College is a smaller specialize in a particular subject area. school which provides a lot of personalized attention for each • A Chance to Play Polo - NCAA scholarships in polo are athlete. Professor to student ratios are low and the school has labs and tutorial programs set up to help all students. The polo team very rare. For most Freshman or Sophomores at a four year averages about 16 players which means more attention from the school, playing time is limited to scrimmages and “B” games.