Marisa Refe joins the Chapman swimming & diving coaching staff as the Head Dive Coach for the 2026-27 season. She brings with her experience as a diver and a coach within the SCIAC.
Refe's coaching experience extends back to 2011 when she was a youth gymnastics and diving coach at the Pacific Diving & Gymnastics Academy. She currently coaches the divers at Whittier College and Rio Hondo College. She took over both diving programs last year.
Refe was a four-year letterwinner and was named Rookie of the Year in 2012-13, She went on to compete in the final of a handful of SCIAC Championship competitions. She broke two Whittier record in her time as a student-athlete and is a formerÂ
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 from 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 and personal training. Her coaching and research experience reaches well out of the pool into the sports of tennis, cricket and paralympic sports.
Refe joins Jason Willman's coaching staff for his first season.
