The 2025-26 season marks J.P. Gowdy’s 15th season as head coach of the Pomona-Pitzer men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs.
In 2024-25, Gowdy led the women's swimming & diving squad to its sixth SCIAC Championship in nine seasons. Gowdy and his staff were also named SCIAC Women's Coaching Staff of the Year for the seventh time since 2015. He also led the team to an eighth place finish at the NCAA Championships. Under his tutelage, Valerie Mello was named 2024-25 SCIAC Athlete of the Year while Izzy Yoon earned SCIAC Newcomer of the Year honors. On the men's side, the Sagehens took second at the SCIAC Championships in 2024-25. Kyle Huang was named SCIAC Athlete of the Year, Tommy Matheis was named SCIAC Diver of the Year and Newcomer of the Year.
The 2023-24 campaign saw Gowdy guide the women’s swimming & diving squad to a SCIAC Championship, its fifth conference title in eight seasons. Gowdy and his staff were also named SCIAC Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year for the sixth time since 2015. Gowdy coached Bennett Jones to a conference Newcomer of the Year award and Alexandra Turvey to her third consecutive Athlete of the Year honor. On the men’s side, the Sagehens finished second in the conference championship while Kyle Huang was named SCIAC Newcomer of the Year. The women’s squad placed seventh at the NCAA Championship while the men took 15th.
In 2021-22, Gowdy led the women’s team to its fourth SCIAC Championship in six years, including a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championship as the men took 15th.
Gowdy also earned the program's first back-to-back sweeps over the conference championship in 2017-2018, leading the Men's and Women's teams to their second straight SCIAC title in the 2018-19 season. Coach Gowdy saw 17 swimmers (Eight women, nine men) compete at the 2019 NCAA Championship, leading the women to a seventh-place finish while the men took 11th.
In the 2017-18 season, Coach Gowdy helped his men's and women's program to a SCIAC Title sweep and won SCIAC Women's Coach of the Year. He also saw 16 swimmers, eight from each program, qualify for the NCAA Championship where the men finished in eighth place while the women finished in ninth. The program saw it's first individual swimmer win the NCAA Championship when Lukas Menkhoff took first place in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Gowdy has earned SCIAC Coach of the Year nine times (2015W, 2016M, 2016W, 2018W, 2019M, 2019W, 2020M, 2022W, 2024W).
Gowdy came to Pomona-Pitzer after serving as the Head Men's and Women's Swim and Dive Coach at Wheaton College (Mass.) for eight years. At Wheaton, Coach Gowdy presided over programs that improved from last place in conference to fourth for the men, and from eighth place to third for the women. During his tenure, Gowdy coached six NCAA All-American swimmers, as well as seven NCAA invitees, 12 NCAA qualifiers, two individual conference record holders, and four conference relay holders. In addition to his responsibilities as the head coach, Gowdy served as the Aquatics Director, overseeing every aspect of the aquatic center.
Prior to coaching at Wheaton College, Coach Gowdy received his master's degree at Springfield College (Mass.) and served as the Graduate Assistant Coach from 2002-2003. During his time at Springfield, Gowdy served as a Physical Education Graduate Fellow in addition to his coaching responsibilities.
Coach Gowdy is a 1999 graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, where he was a two-time MVP of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), a 17-time All-American, and a National Champion in the 400 IM.
