Pepperdine Alumni and Coaches Compete in 2016 Summer Olympic Games
Pepperdine Magazine is the feature magazine for Pepperdine University and its growing community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends.
A group of Pepperdine alumni athletes and Waves coaches participated in a variety
of sports throughout the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August
5 to 21.
Alumni athletes included:
- Sarah Attar (’14): Saudi Arabia Women’s Track and Field
- Miranda Ayim (’10): Canada Women’s Basketball
- Roxanne Barker (’13): South Africa Women’s Soccer
- Kim Hill (’12): USA Women’s Volleyball
- Merrill Moses (’99): USA Men’sWater Polo
- Jesse Smith (’05): USA Men’s Water Polo
- Fred Winters (’04): Canada Men’s Volleyball
The Olympians were joined in Rio by several accomplished Pepperdine volleyball coaches:
head coach Marv Dunphy (’74), assistant coach David Hunt, beach volleyball assistant
coach Marcio Sicoli (MA ’15), and volunteer assistant coach Kayla Banwarth, who was
also selected to represent the United States in women’s volleyball.
Additionally, alumni Jack Kocur (’97) and Alex Rodriguez (’98) participated as assistant
coaches for the USA men’s water polo team, and men’s volleyball alumni Kevin Barnett
(’97) and Dain Blanton (’94) were present as analysts for NBC.
Volleyball players Hill and Banwarth returned home with bronze medals after the U.S.
defeated the Netherlands 3 to 1 in the finals match.
Read more about Kim Hill’s road to Rio: magazine.pepperdine.edu/road-to-rio