News
History and Mission
Though Lakeridge and Lake Oswego High Schools both had water polo programs in 2001, there were no youth programs to feed the high school teams. A dedicated group of parent volunteers started the Iron Mountain Water Polo Club to provide younger players an opportunity to learn and grow in the sport. Now known as the Lake Oswego Water Polo Organization (LOWPO), our nonprofit organization serves over 150 young athletes.
LOWPO's mission is to provide opportunities at every level for athletes ages 8-18, and to have a positive impact on the growth of water polo as a youth sport in the Pacific Northwest. We are dedicated to developing athletes with sound fundamentals, strong work ethic, and positive character. We encourage teamwork, perserverance, and above all, sportsmanship. Our LOWPO athletes are boys and girls from throughout the Portland metropolitan area.
Our Coaches
Each of our experienced coaches are current or former water polo athletes who are dedicated to sharing their love of the sport. They strive to utilize every opportunity to teach both the fundamentals of the game and the broader life lessons learned through playing a team sport.
Daniel Ramirez
Director and 14U Head Coach
Daniel Ramirez is from San Diego, CA, where he played for San Diego Shores for six years, winning JO’s twice. After graduating from Helix High school, he then played at Grossmont College earning All-American honors before transferring to UCSD and finishing out his playing career with the Tritons in 2010. Daniel has experience coaching teams at the high school and community college level, including Grossmont High School, Patrick Henry High School, San Diego Mesa College, San Diego Shores, and University City. In addition to leading University City to three league titles and two top 10 finishes, he served as Head Coach for the Sunset club program in San Diego. Daniel moved to Portland in 2016 and has been coaching ever since. In addition to coaching LOWPO, Daniel has also coached at Thills and Lincoln High School. Daniel's coaching goal is to develop athletes who have the foundational skills to play at the highest level, while teaching them how to work hard, be good teammates, and respect the game of water polo.
Austin Sechrest
High School Head Coach
Bryan Hill
High School
Coach Bryan has been involved in water polo for over 20 years as an athlete, coach, and referee. He played for Aloha High, leading the Warriors to their first ever state championship tournament appearance and earning All-League MVP as well as 1st team all-tournament at the state championship. He also played for Tualatin Hills Water Polo Club, culminating in a 4th place finish at the Junior Olympics in the summer of 2000. He played at Loyola Marymount University for one year before returning home to attend Oregon State University, where he both played on and coached the men’s club team - taking them to win multiple CWPA regional titles. He graduated from OSU in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Performance. Bryan continued coaching after college at Corvallis High School, where he coached for 5 seasons. He then moved to Beaverton and coached at T-Hills for 7 years, including 2 years as head coach. He spent most fall HS seasons officiating, and coached Southridge High School to 2nd place finish at the state championship. He joined the Lake Oswego High School program in 2018 and became Head Coach in 2019. He was the head coach for the OEP 16U Boys team at the 2019 Junior Olympics.
Davis Simmons
High School and 14U
Davis started her water polo career at Mercer Island High School in 2014 earning honorable mention All-State selection and first team All-King County recipient her senior year. She was twice named the team’s Defensive MVP while setting two school records. During this time Davis also played for Northwest, coached by John Jacobson, Blake VanHartesvelt, and Amy Carlson. Continuing her career, Davis played at the D1 level for Indiana University from 2017-2020, where she was involved with SAAC, Coach for College, and the President of all-IN, a student-athlete group focusing on athlete mental health and wellbeing. Davis finished her degree in Informatics and minored in Exercise Science.
Ashley Elisara
High School and 14U
Ashley's introduction to water sports was synchronized swimming at the age of 8 years old. She did synchronize swimming until she reached 8th grade and made the transition to water polo by joining the Tigard Tualatin Water Polo Club. She played at Tualatin High School from 2012 to 2016. During her time at Tualatin, she received second-team Three-Rivers League honors, as well as Honorable Mention and Second team All-State selection. In addition, Ashley was part of two 6A state championship teams, one runner-up and one-sixth place finish. She also played for Thills water polo her junior and senior of high school. Continuing her career, Ashley played for Portland State University from 2019 to 2020. During her time there she received Player of the Week honors. She graduated in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies. As a coach, Ashley joined the Tualatin High School coaching staff in 2018 as the assistant coach. She then moved to the Boy’s Head Coach Position in 2019 and took over the program in 2020. She then made the move to Girl’s Head Coach during the 2021 season. As a head coach for the team, her focus is to rebuild the team and continue to grow to become more competitive during the season.
Arielle Elisara
High School and 14U
Arielle started her way into water sports by starting synchronized swimming at the age of 8 years old. She did synchronize swimming until she reached 8th grade and made the transition to water polo by joining the Tigard Tualatin Water Polo Club. She played at Tualatin High School from 2012 to 2016. During her time at Tualatin, she received first-team Three-Rivers league honors. In addition, Arielle was part of two 6A state championship teams, one runner-up and one-sixth place finish. She also played for Thills water polo her junior and senior of high school.
As a coach, Arielle joined the Tualatin High School coaching staff in 2021 as an assistant coach. Before joining the coaching staff she would go to practices and work with players to improve their skills since 2018.
Sean Elliott
14U
Sean played three years at Helix High School in San Diego where he graduated in 2016. During that time he played two seasons for Sunset Water Polo Club under coach Daniel Ramirez. He also played three years with his high school club team. He went on to play for Grossmont Community College for two years.
Alexis "Lexy" Burris
14U
Jadene "Jake" Stensland
14U
Jadene “Jake” Stensland has been playing water polo for over 40 years. She is an All-American at High School, College and Masters level, the 1991 US Collegiate National Championship MVP and the 2019 PNW Distinguished Masters Athlete of the Year. She was on the women’s Jr and Sr National Teams from 1985-1994 and participated in international tournaments, including 1993 World Cup and 1994 FINA World Championships (before women were allowed to play in Olympics). Her most memorable polo moment is being known as the first goalie to score a full-court goal. She started coaching with Newberg HS State Champions in 1998 and then after moving to Lake Oswego began working with LOWPO. She has previously volunteered with US Water Polo as the PNW Zone Chair. Her daughter, Cascade learned to play water polo at LOWPO and Lakeridge HS and now plays in D1 at UC San Diego. Her son is studying Cybersecurity at Oregon Tech. She enjoys hiking and traveling with her husband, Gerald, and they recently celebrated their 25th anniversary. She is a civil engineer at a local agency, specializing in water management. Coach Jake's goal is to develop athletes who have a life-long love for water polo. She focuses on how to bring the best out of yourself, being a good teammate and respect for the strategic game of water polo.
CB Dwight
14U
CB played high school and age group club water polo with Punahou High School in Hawaii for legendary high school coach Ken Smith. He went on to play for collegiate Hall of Fame coach Pete Cutino at Cal Berkeley. As an open club player, he played under Hall of Fame coach Danti Dettamanti and US Olympic MVP player Bruce Bradley. He has coached and played water polo in Hawaii, Oregon and Washington over the past 40 years. He is a two time All American High School Water Polo Player selection, and as a collegiate water polo player, a three-time National Champion. CB started refereeing at the age of 16 in Hawaii, was the referee assignor for the High School League in Hawaii, and the top referee in the state. He worked his way up through the USA Water Polo Referees rankings to the highest national level and had started refereeing international games when he decided to pursue a career in the field of law and had to let go of any further advancement opportunities as a referee. He had the privilege of refereeing outdoor club national championship games for Men’s and Women’s finals. His desire is to build water polo in our Zone through referee development and volunteering as a water polo coach at LOWPO.
Contact Us
Got questions? We've got answers!
Club Director and Head Coach｜ Daniel Ramirez｜coachdaniel@lowpo.org
Club Chair ｜ Chris Alexander｜ calexander@lowpo.org
Administrator ｜ Corrin Beaumont｜ admin@lowpo.org
