Sarah Orozco named women's water polo coach at Biola
Sarah Orozco swam for Cerritos College in 2006. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
LA MIRADA - Newly named Biola Women’s Water Polo coach Sarah Orozco had a vision 18 years ago about a connection to Biola University.
As her Pastor was speaking, a 12-year-old Sarah was dreaming about someday being at the La Mirada campus.
Fast forward all of those years later and the 30-year-old 2012 UCLA grad was standing next to the pool and conducting her first interview as head coach for the Eagles.
“I was sitting at church and the Pastor (Salvador Delgado), who was a Biola alum, was preaching and I remember thinking, ‘what if Biola had water polo’ and here I am today,” Orozco remembered.
“My passion is my faith and water polo.”
Orozco, who played at Montebello High School and was in two consecutive CIF-Southern Section finals and had a successful four-year career at UCLA. She scored 84 goals, had 23 assists and 38 steals. In the Bruins NCAA 2009 championship season, she scored a season-high three goals in two games (vs. Iona and vs. USC in the NCAA Tournament) and finished with eight goals in three NCAA Tournament matches.
From 2011-14, Orozco represented the Mexican Senior National Water Polo Team in International Tournaments and prior to that she represented the USA Youth National Water Polo Team in overseas tournaments from 2005-07.
“It feels nice and exciting and going down in history as the first women’s coach,” Orozco said. “The thoughts I had as a 12-year-old was a desire in me because I had my faith and I was playing water polo and I would have really looked into Biola.”
Biola, of course, didn’t have a team and she eventually ended up at UCLA.
Orozco, who swam for Cerritos during the 2016 season and was a member of the 2009 UCLA National Championship team, will become the first coach for Biola as they are starting up men’s and women’s water polo teams for the 2021-22 season.
The teams will become the 17th and 18th sports for the growing Eagles athletic program as they begin their second year in NCAA Division II.
The official announcement was made in September of 2019 by Senior Director of Athletics Bethany Miller.
“There is strong student interest that has been shared from within our student body as well as great local high school and community college competition in the region,” said Miller, on the Biola website. “With our upcoming facility renovations, this is an exciting time to expand our student-athlete population and invest in two new teams.”
Along with Orozco, Rick Nordell of Visalia was named the men’s coach.
“It’s very exciting,” said Nordell of the challenge to start up a college program. “I’m looking forward to it. It’s exciting and it’s scary. All in one.
“We (Nordell and Orozco) will definitely be able to team up. It’s exciting.”
Orozco started swimming at the age of five and began playing the sport at 12 and competed in the well-known Commerce Club team, along with her sister Priscella. Both are in the Commerce Hall of Champions.
Priscella, a year older than Sarah, graduated in 2011 and became the assistant coach at Cal Baptist. She then played one year in Spain and soon after was on the list for the USA National team and was one of the final five players to be cut.
Sarah, who played three years in Brazil, Barcelona and professionally in Australia, was in the mix to make the National team but didn’t make it as high of Priscella.
Priscilla was an attacker and Sarah was a hole set.
Sarah has been an assistant coach for the last four years at Azusa Pacific University under coach Julie Hale Snodgrass, until the recent Covid-19 that ended the season in March.
“She is a large reason why I’m actually here at Biola,” Sarah Orozco said. “I told Julie I wouldn’t leave APU unless there was another Christian school that had something available.
“She wanted me to move on and saw the potential in me. I just wanted to make sure I was living on purpose and helping others come along.
“Julie mentored me into this coaching and coming back to water polo and faith caught my attention.”
Sarah originally didn’t want to go into coaching, but Snodgrass, although, had urged her to pursue a career.
“Because of the pandemic, it gave me a chance at this opportunity to coach,” Sarah Orozco said.
“I’m excited for what’s going to happen (at Biola),” Sarah Orozco said. “I have those connections (locally) and I’m known in the network.
“I hope we can do some great things and break records here like we did at APU. It’ll take awhile for us to get really competitive but I’m confident with the skills that I’m bringing and the experience I’ve had and the connections and people that I know will help this program.
Orozco continued on the schools’ support for her.
“The school is super backing me on my mission statement for the team and for their mission statement, which is developing women academically, spiritually and physically. Spiritually is most important, but all three aligned and I think that is my forte being that I’ve grown up Christian and had that thought of Biola.”
And who knew after that thought as a 12-year-old what could have been if Biola would have had a team years ago.