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 are over.
Women’s Volleyball: Savanna Cespedes ’26
What fascinates Cespedes about the brain is its relationship to the body. As she recovers from major knee surgery, she’s seen firsthand how complex that relationship can be.
A neuroscience major from Rancho Cucamonga, she’s back in practice after tearing her ACL last October, and while she’s regained strength in her knee almost a year later, she says she’s still rebuilding the mind-to-muscle connection.
“I can tell my brain is reacting faster than my body,” she adds. “I’ll see certain things and my brain is telling me to move, but my body doesn’t want to.”
As one of four team captains, 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 trainers for helping her recover from her first major injury.
“The first month after surgery was one of the roughest months of my life,” she says. “Having my sense of independence stripped from me was something I really struggled with. But my parents, my friends and my team were my rocks.”
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.
Men’s Cross Country: Joseph Cox ’25
As a distance runner, 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, 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 professor Lars Schmitz.
Over the summer, Cox not only animated the creature, but created an underwater environment with fluid simulations that accurately react to the ichthyosaurus entering and exiting the water.
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.
“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.”
Women’s Soccer: Anjali Nuggehalli ’26
When Nuggehalli came to Pomona, she expected to grow close with her teammates on the pitch. She didn’t expect to do the same with colleagues 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.
In the summer she interned with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Business Innovation and Data Analytics division as a Women in Sports Tech fellow, where she analyzed fan engagement and built a model to predict medal counts. She also visited the Team USA training center in Colorado to rub elbows with top directors and athletes.
A native of Saratoga, California, Nuggehalli is enticed by a career in sports technology and hopes to continue exploring related avenues 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.”
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