Whitman College Men's Swimming

Blomme, a Walla Walla native who moved east with her family as a young child, returned to the area in 2000 and has spent the last thirteen years transforming Whitman College into one of the top swim programs in the Northwest Conference. Blomme, who coaches both the men's and women's swim teams, has been named NWC Coach of the Year six times since coming to Whitman. She collected her first two NWC coaching awards (both for women's swimming) following the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Her most recent coaching award for women's swimming came at the close of the 2011 NWC Championships, when her women's team broke schools records in all five relays and Whitman sophomore Katie Chapman won all three of her individual races and was named the Women's Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet. Her men's team, which finished second at the 2013 NWC Championships, has also made notable headlines outside of the pool, earning Team Scholar All-America honors while posting the highest combined grade point average in all of NCAA Division III in 2011. Blomme was most recently named NWC Coach of the Year for men's swimming after the 2013 Championships, which capped the best season in the history of the men's program at Whitman. In addition to her coaching duties, Blomme manages Whitman's Louise and Paul Harvey Pool, which is home for the varsity swim teams and also serves the recreational needs of the campus community. The 30-meter pool, which opened in the fall of 2006 as part of the new $10-million Baker Ferguson Fitness Center, features eight competitive lanes, three warm-up and cool-down lanes, and an elevated viewing area for meet spectators. Blomme was a varsity swimmer, specializing in the breaststroke, at Grinnell (Iowa) College, where she earned her undergraduate degree in 1996, majoring in Spanish. Grinnell, which has a traditionally strong NCAA Div. III swim program, captured its conference title in two of her four seasons there. After Grinnell, Blomme was an assistant swim coach at Dickinson College (Carlisle, Penn.) for one season and the head coach at Pennsylvania's Bryn Mawr College for one season. Before coming to Whitman, she served as a volunteer women's coach at Indiana University for two two years while she completed her master's degree. Dickinson and Bryn Mawr, like Whitman and Grinnell, are members of NCAA Div. III, which precludes schools from giving athletic scholarships. Blomme was born in Walla Walla while her mother, Gayle Blomme, was working as a sabbatical teaching replacement in the English Department at Whitman. The family soon moved to the Olympia, Wash., area and later relocated to Michigan. "Coming back to Walla Walla and Whitman was great," Blomme said. "From the time I moved to Michigan as a child, I always wanted to return to the West Coast." After completing her master's degree, Blomme pursued the coaching vacancy at Whitman because she wanted to work at a small liberal arts college with an NCAA Division III athletic affiliation. "Whitman is one of the top schools in the country," she said. "If you ask me for a wish list on what I want in a coaching position, Whitman covers all the bases. You don't always get so much of what you are looking for, so I feel very fortunate." Speaking in part from her own experience as a college swimmer, Blomme bases her coaching philosophy on the concept that "Division III athletes are striving to do their best in their academic as well their athletic endeavors. Participation in sport can be a tremendous complement to their lives without dominating their collegiate experience." In working with her athletes, Blomme establishes training regimens that are individualized in nature and specific to each swimmer's competitive events. Above all she stresses the importance of perfecting swimming strokes. "Swim training is often based to a large extent on quantity," she said. "The idea is, the more you swim, the better you become. While there are times for high volume training, I really stress the value of technique and proper stroke mechanics. You can swim all the yards you want and not get faster if you are not swimming efficiently." Blomme began her own competitive swimming career at Northview High School in Grand Rapids, Mich., and continued to compete while at Grinnell. "For me, swimming is what held my college experience together," she said. "It gave me the chance to be part of a great community while still facing individual challenges, hardships and successes." After completing her undergraduate degree, Blomme soon "discovered that coaching swimming is my passion," she said. "This is what I want to do with my life." Blomme and husband Adam Kirtley, the Stuart Coordinator of Religious and Spiritual Life at Whitman, have two young daughters.

Sollom-Brotherton '14 climbed out of the pool to take his place on deck as an assistant coach for the Missionaries in August of 2014. The 2012 Northwest Conference (NWC) swimmer of the championship meet, Sollom-Brotherton is among the most decorated alumni of the Whitman men's swimming program. He is a 12-time NWC champion and four-time NCAA Division III All-American, and was voted the Junior and Senior Athlete of the Year for the Whitman athletics department. Prior to enrolling at Whitman Sollom-Brotherton swim for Diablo Valley Community College where he collected 14 all-America certificates. In high school he raced to all-American status six times. Sollom-Brotherton brings eight years of coaching experience to the deck of the Harvey Pool including stints with the Walnut Creek Aquabears and the Dublin Green Gators, U.S.A.. swim clubs in California.

Kennedy '96 started volunteering his time as an assistant coach for the Whitman swim team in 2003 when he moved back to Walla Walla with his wife, Becky '96. Jamie spends his days serving as the Director of Gift Planning within the College's development office, and assists the swim team at afternoon practices and at meets. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Kennedy graduated from Whitman with a B.A. in sociology and environmental studies in 1996. He swam throughout his four years at Whitman, specializing in sprint freestyle while swimming for long-time head coach Lee Coleman. The Kennedys are big Whitman athletics fans and can be spotted at almost any Whitman sporting event. When he's not out riding his bike through the wheat fields, you can find Jamie tending to his meat smoker with a glass of Walla Walla wine in the other hand.  The Kennedys have one daughter, Mary.     

Jamie Kennedy '96 started volunteering his time as an assistant coach for the Whitman swim team in 2003 when he moved back to Walla Walla with his wife, Becky '96. Jamie spends his days serving as the Director of Gift Planning within the College's development office, and assists the swim team at afternoon practices and at meets.Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Kennedy graduated from Whitman with a B.A. in sociology and environmental studies in 1996. He swam throughout his four years at Whitman, specializing in sprint freestyle while swimming for long-time head coach Lee Coleman.The Kennedys are big Whitman athletics fans and can be spotted at almost any Whitman sporting event. When he's not out riding his bike through the wheat fields, you can find Jamie tending to his meat smoker with a glass of Walla Walla wine in the other hand. The Kennedys have one daughter, Mary.    

After a stellar college swimming career at Whitman, Andrew Hanson was hired as assistant coach in 2024. As a Whitman swimmer he put his name on three all-time program records - the 100 and 200 breaststrokes as well as  the 4x100 medley relay. During his junior season he helped the team toward a Northwest Conference championship title by winning first place in the 200 IM and being part of the first place winning and record setting 4x100 Medley relay.  During his time at Whitman, he double majored in Music Performance and Economics, he served as a swimming team captain for 2 years, was vice president of the cycling club for 1 year, and participated in 3 music ensembles.  He believes strongly in goal setting and is driven to help his swimmers at every step toward achieving theirs. As an alum of the program he is especially passionate  and committed to seeing his team succeed.  Feel free to contact Andrew with questions at [email protected]