Coach Montenegro enters her sixth season (2026) at the helm of the VMI Water Polo program.
The 2025 season brought success for Water Polo, as the nine wins were the most the program has had since 2020 and most the most under Montengro's leadership. The 2025 team score 323 goals which was fourth-most in program history, led by Sydney Smith (64).
Out of the pool, the team continued to excel, as
Maddie Day, Sarah Fitzsimmons, Courtney Novotny, Meagan Riding, Sadie Smith and Julia Ward all named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Academic Team (3.20 or higher).
Senior
Courtney Novotny earned two of most prestigious awards a cadet-athlete can get, winning the Three-Legged Stool Award and the Cincinnati Medal. Additionally, Novotny was given the SoCon Postgraduate Scholarship Award. Novotny ended her career second all-time in goals scored with 210 and her 130 steals rank third in program history
In 2023, Montenegro and the Water Polo program hosted the first official NCAA contest at the state-of-the art VMI Aquatic Center, which took place on April 1-2 as the Keydets hosted conference foes for a weekend showcase. VMI officially made their Aquatic Center
debut on April 1 against Marist.
Formerly the head mentor at Urbana University (Ohio), Montenegro was hired in July of 2020 as the head coach of the VMI women's water polo team.
In her first season, she led the Keydets to the first MAAC Championship game in program history, and VMI trailed by just one goal with three minutes to play against Marist in the finals. In her second season, Montenegro had six of her 11 players earn All-MAAC Academic Team honors.
Montenegro, a native of Rowland Heights, California, came to Urbana last fall after serving as head coach of the water polo program at Crafton Hills College. She also spent three years as assistant coach at Mt. San Antonio College.
Since 2008, Montenegro has coached and instructed at various high schools and clubs in Southern California, including Kennedy High School, Diamond Bar High School, Rowland and Nogales High School, Rose Bowl Aquatics and Rancho Tsunami Water Polo Club.
A standout water polo athlete, Montenegro earned NCAA Division III All-American status all four years at Occidental College (Calif.). She was named Team MVP as a sophomore and was twice voted a team captain. Prior to college, Montenegro led Rowland high school team to a pair of league championships while earning league MVP and Player of the Year awards. She was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.
Montenegro earned a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Occidental and obtained her master's degree from Concordia University in applied exercise science, with an emphasis in strength and conditioning. She's also a certified strength and conditioning specialist and certified physical therapist assistant.
