Head Diving Coach Marisa Refe '16 is a Poet Alumni who returned to Whittier College ahead of the historic 2025-26 season following a successul diving career with the Purple & Gold. Marisa has a multi-sport background varying in gymnastics, swim, water polo, tennis, volleyball, springboard diving, and more.
"Being back at Whittier is like coming home after a long trip," Refe says. "It's nice to be back."
As a Poet, Refe was a four-year letter winner who was awarded program Rookie of the Year in 2012-13, and went on to compete in the final of a handful of SCIAC Championship competitions. She broke two Whittier and and is a former
NCAA Division III West Regionals qualifier. In her first year back with the Poets, Refe coached junior Miriam Brownell to the top of the Whittier record books and to the regional competition -- the first time a Whittier diver has qualified since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marisa graduated Whittier with a Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology & Nutrition Science with an emphasis in Pre-Physical Therapy. She went on to Loughborough University, England, UK., to continue to receive her MSc., in Sports Biomechanics. Her coaching background includes Junior Olympic Springboard Diving, collegiate diving, high school swim, club diving, private lessons in tennis and gymnastics, and personal training for Olympic athletes. She has also has conducted research with Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis athletes, and assisted research on World Cup Cricket Pitchers, and Olympic Triple Jumpers. She credits her multi-sport background in competing and coaching for her unique approach and out-of-the-box thinking for applied skills.
