Every school year Pomona College welcomes new and returning student-athletes to campus to continue their collegiate careers as proud Sagehens.
The fall brings fresh schedules for football, men’s and women’s cross country, women’s volleyball, men’s water polo and men’s and women’s soccer.
Three student-athletes currently in season reflect on what drew them to Pomona, how they balance schoolwork and athletic responsibilities, and what they plan to do when their playing days at the College are over.
Savanna Cespedes ’26, women’s volleyball
What fascinates Savanna Cespedes about the brain is its relationship to the body, and as a volleyball player recovering from major knee surgery, she’s seeing firsthand how complex that relationship can be.
Cespedes, a neuroscience major by way of Rancho Cucamonga, California, is back practicing with her teammates after tearing her ACL last October, and while she’s regained strength in her knee almost a year later, “it’s the mind-to-muscle connection I’m still rebuilding,” she says.
“I can tell my brain is reacting faster than my body at this point,” she adds. “I’ll see certain things and my brain is telling me to move, but my body doesn’t want to move.”
As one of four team captains this season, Cespedes shares responsibility for putting her teammates in the best position to succeed. She’s inching closer to returning to game action and credits Pomona’s athletic trainers and others for helping her recover from her first major injury.
“The first month after surgery was one of the roughest months I’d had in my life,” she says. “Having my sense of independence and all my strength stripped from me was something I really struggled with. But my parents, my friends and my team were my rocks.”
“My team meant so much to me that pushing through those hard days was not just for me, but for them too.”
Cespedes got her EMT certification this summer as she recovered from surgery. She plans to pursue a master’s in physician assistant studies with the intent to become capable of providing life-saving support when called upon.
At Pomona, Cespedes is among the Pomona Scholars of Science, a small cohort of students that meets weekly to check in on how classes are going. Cespedes also sets aside time to mentor underclassmen interested in pre-health sciences.
“The compassion and empathy and support faculty have for not only student-athletes but students as a whole make Pomona a great place to be,” she says. “I’ve never felt so supported in what I do outside and inside the classroom.”
Joseph Cox ’25, men’s cross country
As a distance runner, Joseph Cox sees the beauty of the world around him. As a 3D animator, he builds worlds for others to see.
“When doing documentary work, a lot of the time world building begins once you have the footage,” Cox says. “But in 3D animation, every single item throughout the process has to be put in context because you make everything from scratch.”
A media studies major and senior on the men’s cross-country team, Cox balances his curiosities in the classroom and responsibilities as a runner. During this past track season, the Austin, Texas native was asked by a friend and fellow distance runner to animate an ichthyosaurus from photo scans with the help of Claremont McKenna College Prof. Lars Schmitz.
Over the summer, Cox not only animated the dinosaur, but created an underwater environment with fluid simulations that accurately react to the ichthyosaurus entering and exiting the water. He also created era-specific corals and vegetation unique to shallow and deep water.
“In a way it was storytelling,” he says, “but it encompassed everything.”
As big a field as 3D animation is, Cox hopes to narrow his expertise to modeling, texturing or compositing. His strengths lie in modeling and texturing, and he can see himself creating detailed worlds in video games or movies.
There are two 3D animation routes, he says, with respective north stars guiding the way.
Pixar movies demonstrate what can be achieved with just 3D animation, Cox says, while the digital backgrounds in big-budget superhero movies and television shows demonstrate another application—3D compositing.
Cox has found Pomona’s media studies program helpful in preparing him for either path.
“I’m not exactly sure where the 3D jobs will take me,” he says. “But I definitely want to do 3D animation in film or other types of media.”
Anjali Nuggehalli ’26, women’s soccer
When Anjali Nuggehalli came to Pomona, she expected to grow close with her teammates on the pitch. She didn’t expect to do the same with professors and other students in the Computer Science Department.
“Until I got to Pomona, I didn’t think a STEM department would have the opportunity for socialization and bonding,” says Nuggehalli, a computer science and politics double major. “When I talk to people at bigger schools, especially in STEM departments, it’s very much you go to lecture where there’s hundreds of kids, you do the assignments, turn them in and that’s that.”
Drawing inspiration from upperclassmen, Nuggehalli became a computer science liaison, fostering relationships with faculty and peers while playing for one of the preeminent Division III women’s soccer programs in the country.
“If you’re passionate about something, you will make time for it,” she says. “It’s just a matter of figuring out what’s important to you. At the end of the day, you can’t do everything. Knowing what you want to commit to is the first step in succeeding, and then you rely on the support system around you.”
In the summer, Nuggehalli interned with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Business Innovation and Data Analytics division as a Women in Sports Tech fellow.
While most of her work identifying the historical progression of female medal counts, building a model to predict future medal counts, and looking at fan engagement with women’s athletics was done remotely, Nuggehalli did visit the Team USA training center in Colorado to rub elbows with top directors and athletes.
Nuggehalli, a native of Saratoga, California, remains enticed by a career in sports technology and hopes to continue exploring professional settings in the field while at Pomona.
“Everyone here is passionate for learning,” she says, “and that inspires me to not only go to class to get good grades, but to walk out and feel like a more well-rounded educated person.”