They don Sagehen blue after their classes in anthropology and chemistry, mathematics, public policy analysis and sociology. While in season, Pomona student athletes juggle training, coursework, social activities and hobbies.
Fall brings new seasons for football, men’s and women’s cross country, women’s volleyball, men’s water polo and men’s and women’s soccer.
Below, three Sagehens reflect on their years at Pomona.
Guy Fuchs ’27, men’s soccer
Guy Fuchs is in constant motion—on the pitch and off.
As someone who doesn’t like to keep himself in one place, the Irvine, California native says Pomona has given him the freedom to dip his toes into most facets of campus life.
“I’m really proud of how I’ve balanced everything,” he says. “I’ve taken difficult classes, played soccer, done internships, socialized with friends and studied abroad. And I’ve really enjoyed being able to meet such a wide variety of people over my time here.”
Originally intent on majoring in physics, Fuchs accepted an electrical engineering internship his first summer at Pomona. While he loved the tangible aspects of the field, he took a computer science course as a sophomore and found equally enjoyable the discipline’s problem-solving ethos.
An internship in software engineering the ensuing summer persuaded Fuchs to pursue both physics and computer science tracks.
“I really appreciate how at Pomona I’ve been able to explore both of those areas and not feel like I have to stay completely inside one lane,” he says.
Fuchs studied abroad in Budapest, Hungary, last spring, and when he wasn’t in class, he was bouncing around Europe meeting new people, learning new customs and “gaining perspective on life,” he says.
This summer, Fuchs interned at Chainalysis, a New York City-based blockchain data platform used by companies in more than 70 countries. Sean Zhu ’17, then an engineering manager there, connected his fellow Sagehen to the company and the two bonded over their college experiences in Claremont.
“We were known as the Pomona boys,” says Fuchs, who’s accepted an offer to return to Chainalysis full time after graduating.
Fuchs last year co-captained the winningest men’s soccer team in a decade.
Back on the pitch this fall after offseason surgery, the midfielder is helping lay a foundation of success for the underclassmen to build upon in the years ahead.
“As you get older, you start thinking a lot about the team as a whole and what environment you’re helping to create,” Fuchs says. “It’s one of the coolest parts about being older, realizing you have some responsibility for what the younger guys’ experience is going to be.”
Vivian Rojas Collins ’27, women’s soccer
The instincts Vivian Rojas Collins leans on to thwart imminent threats in the throes of a 90-minute soccer game will be of great use when she’s bouncing between cases during a hectic shift in whatever hospital she lands in.
A neuroscience major on the pre-med track, Rojas Collins saw such intuition on display last winter while shadowing an emergency room doctor in her native Minnesota whose knowledge and technical precision solidified her plans to attend medical school.
“[The doctor] knew every single thing you could think of,” she says. “It was very inspiring to watch.”
A high school class on sports exercise and health science piqued Rojas Collins’ interest in neuroscience, and Pomona courses with professors Jonathan T. King and Karen Parfitt required she tap into her athletic prowess to complete challenging coursework.
Through the Pomona College Internship Program (PCIP), Rojas Collins returned home ahead of her junior year to study neurodegenerative diseases in a neuroscience lab at the University of Minnesota.
Inspired by that summer apprenticeship, Rojas Collins took the MCAT and plans to take a gap year to gain more clinical experience before applying to medical school.
“My classes have pushed me so hard as a student in ways I’ve never been pushed before,” she says. “They’ve made me realize the work may be hard, but it’s rewarding—in the same way athletics have been.”
With Rojas Collins, the women’s soccer team has captured three consecutive regular season conference championships. Rojas Collins was named conference Defensive Player of the Year last season and the Sagehens advanced to the NCAA Round of Eight, their furthest postseason run since 2019.
Beyond on-field success and personal accolades, Rojas Collins hopes her legacy is reflected in the standard of excellence she’s actively cultivating as a returning All-American and team captain.
“You have to put the hours in,” she says. “You can’t cheat hours. Work is work.”
As sad as she expects to be at season’s end, Rojas Collins expects to be equally excited for her next steps.
“It’s going to be really sad not playing soccer anymore,” she says. “But on the other hand, I get to find the next thing I’m really passionate about.”
Tommy Ryan ’27, men’s water polo
Tommy Ryan always understood that being an athlete required sacrifice. To have this thing, he says, you have to give up that thing.
“There’s going to be a lot of trade-offs in your life,” he adds.
His time as a college athlete winding down, Ryan’s making time to do what he felt he couldn’t do as an underclassman. A computer science major drawn to the field by its open-endedness, the San Francisco native recently started leading the 5C Hackathon and working for KoBold Metals as part of Harvey Mudd College’s Computer Science Clinic.
“As a student athlete,” Ryan says, “it’s easy to get trapped in your schedule, hang out with the same people and do the same things every day. But I’d really encourage people to seek out opportunities outside of sports.”
“No matter what you’re interested in,” he adds, “there’s a group of people or an organization or a club that’s exactly what you’re looking for.”
At Pomona, Ryan’s conducted computer vision research in Professor Anthony Clark’s lab, his main goal being to get a small robot from one point to another using purely what it sees.
Ryan sees computer science as an outlet that encourages creative thinking for useful products. He hopes to leverage his time balancing myriad responsibilities as a student athlete into a career in tech.
“It’s a very exciting time to be in the tech industry,” he says. “The sky’s the limit. You don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Until then, Ryan’s a returning attacker for a Sagehens team that advanced to the USA Water Polo Division III National Championship finals a year ago. Coach Alex Rodriguez calls Ryan “everything I want this program to stand for,” a charge Ryan takes great pride in executing.
“My role is to lead by example, to be the workhorse,” he says. “I feel actions speak louder than words. Anyone can talk a lot, but you’ve got to be able to back it up.”