Girls water polo: Chaney named Sea Kings coach

Steve Virgen

CORONA DEL MAR - It shouldn’t take long for Aaron Chaney to get

acquainted with his team, the Corona del Mar High girls water polo squad,

of which he was named its new coach, the school announced Wednesday.

Chaney, who coached boys and girls water polo for 19 years at Iolani

Prep School in Hawaii, worked with a majority of the CdM girls when he

filled in for former coach John Vargas, who served the head post of the

U.S. Men’s Olympic team, in the summer of 2000.

“They were all freshman and sophomores back then,” Chaney said of the

Sea Kings, including Jessica Fries, Christina Hewko, Jessica Wells and

Alexa Miller. “I just want to continue the same tradition that Vargas put

in. He has a great program there, so I have big shoes to fill.”

Chaney takes over for Vargas, who will become only the fourth head

coach of Stanford University’s men’s water polo team, effective New

Year’s Day, as he was hired to take over for the retired Dante

Dettamanti.

While at Iolani Prep, a K-12 college preparatory school, Chaney led

his boys team to three Interscholastic League of Honolulu titles. Yet, he

said he plans to focus primarily on the girls squad at CdM.

Chaney, who also works as a collegiate and international water polo

official, said applying for the CdM boys coaching job is unlikely.

Chaney, who grew up in Hawaii, completed his undergraduate work in

business economics at UC Santa Barbara where he helped the men’s water

polo team win the NCAA championship in 1979. He went on to earn his

Masters degree in educational psychology from UCLA.