Sara Pomaybo

Assistant Swimming Coach

Sara Pomaybo enters her third season as an assistant coach with the swimming and diving teams and is also the school’s aquatic director. She is responsible for all aspects of coaching including on deck training, dryland, conditioning, travel and scheduling of events.

Prior to coming to Carnegie Mellon, she most recently coached U.S. Swimming for Swim Atlanta. Swim Atlanta is the largest United States swimming team in the country located in Atlanta, Ga. She coached various age group swimmers and worked with the country’s top collegiate/U.S. national coaches and swimmers while at Swim Atlanta.

Before Swim Atlanta, Pomaybo was the head varsity swimming coach at Penn Hills High School for six seasons. While at Penn Hills, she coached numerous WPIAL swimmers, record holders and PIAA qualifiers. In addition, she worked with the club and age group programs at Penn Hills and Sylvan Park. She also taught health and physical education for six years while coaching.

Pomaybo is originally from the Pittsburgh area and graduated from Highlands High School. She is a 1998 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in health, physical education and aquatics where she was a collegiate athlete and still competes/trains in marathons and triathlons. Sara went on to earn her master’s degree at Gannon University in education and is currently pursing a master’s degree in sports leadership at Duquesne University. She resides in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Email Coach Pomaybo

Sean Kavanaugh

Assistant Swimming Coach

Sean Kavanaugh enters his third season as an assistant coach with the swimming and diving teams. He is the recruiting coordinator and is responsible for all aspects of coaching including on deck training, dryland, weight training, travel and scheduling of events. In 2006 he successfully recruited one of the largest and most talented classes in the program’s history.

In 2005 Sean was the assistant coach for the Ithaca College men’s swimming team, helping coach the Bombers to a 16-4 season and 3rd place in the Empire 8 Conference. Prior to Ithaca he was the sectional group coach and national group assistant coach of the Schenectady Swim Club in Burnt Hills, N.Y.

He is actively involved with the University of Texas Longhorn Swim Camp, in Austin, Texas, where he works as an assistant coach and counselor during the summers.

He was an All-America swimmer at Ithaca College in 2004, a two-year co-captain of Ithaca’s men’s swimming team, and holds five Ithaca college swimming records (three individual school records: 100 back, 200 IM, 400 IM; two relay records: 400 medley relay and 800 free relay).

During his four-year career at Ithaca he was a nine-time UNYSCSA Champion and a 13-time Empire 8 Champion. He was named Empire 8 Swimmer of the Meet in 2002 and 2004 and Ithaca College Male Athlete of the Year in 2004. Sean was selected to the conference All-Academic team in 2002, 2003, and 2004 and graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in art education in 2004 from Ithaca and currently resides in Pittsburgh.

Email Coach Kavanaugh

Alicia Gorman

Head Diving Coach 

Alicia Gorman enters her third season as Carnegie Mellon’s head diving coach and assisted the program in 2004-05. This past season saw new successes as the program had the first male diver win a UAA Championship and earn Diver of the Year, earning Gorman Diving Coach of the Year honors.

Alicia is originally from Knoxville, Tenn. where she graduated from The University of Tennessee with a B.S. in sport management and a M.S. in human performance and sport studies with a concentration in sport administration. Alicia was a diver at UT for four years. She qualified for the SEC Championships three years and qualified for the NCAA Zone meet all four years of competing. She was both a springboard and platform diver.

Alicia’s coaching background includes age group, high school, camps, and collegiate experience. Gorman became the volunteer assistant coach for Tennessee while finishing her master’s degree and at completion became the program director and age group coach for Tennessee Diving, the competitive age group team in Knoxville. While program director at Tennessee, she developed and implemented a high school diving program for all high schools in the greater Knoxville area.

Gorman lives in Bethel Park, Pa., with her husband Tom and daughters Amelia and Chloe.

Email Coach Gorman