HEAD Coach: IVAN BUICH

Santa Margarita Catholic High School is excited to welcome Ivan Buich as Head Coach of the Boys Water Polo program. A proven leader with over a decade of experience coaching at the youth, high school, collegiate and semi-professional levels, Coach Buich brings a legacy of excellence, athlete development and championship culture to the Eagles' water polo program.

Coach Buich most recently served as an Assistant Coach at the University of Southern California, where he specialized in center player development, high-performance training and served as Head of Recruiting for USC Men’s Water Polo. During his tenure, the Trojans achieved significant success, including three consecutive MPSF championships (2022–2024), an NCAA Runner-Up finish in 2022 and 2024, and a semifinalist appearance in 2023. As acting head coach, Buich led the Trojans to a 3-0 record, including a commanding victory over UCLA in the 2024 MPSF Final.

“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Buich back to Santa Margarita,” said SMCHS Athletic Director Donald Evans. “His deep knowledge of the game, ability to develop athletes at every level, and commitment to character and academic excellence align perfectly with our mission. He’s a transformational leader who will elevate our program on and off the pool deck.”

Coach Buich’s roots in Orange County water polo run deep. From 2012 to 2024, he led age group teams at OCWPC and Patriot Aquatics, coaching over 85 athletes who advanced to NCAA competition and earning over 85 national tournament titles. His previous high school coaching experience includes a successful tenure at San Juan Hills High School, where he guided both boys and girls teams to CIF Finals, and an earlier stint at SMCHS from 2013 to 2015, during which he led the Girls team to a CIF Division II Championship.

“I’m honored to return to Santa Margarita and lead the Boys Water Polo program,” said Buich. “This school is special to me, and I’m excited to build upon its tradition of faith, excellence, and community. I look forward to mentoring our student-athletes to reach their full potential, in the classroom, in competition and life.”

Coach Buich holds a B.A. in History from Arizona State University and an A.A. from Golden West College. He is a certified kinesiology instructor, NCAA Coaching Development Specialist, and an active member of USA Water Polo.

ASSISTANT Coach: christian macias  

Christian has played and coached water polo for 19 years. He played for OCWPC, SET and SOCAL. During his club experiences, he won All-American and Academic All-American. He played water polo at Mission Viejo High School, where he was MVP for three years and on D1, D2 and D3 CIF teams. Christian was the leading scorer in Orange County his senior year and was an All-American. He played two NCAA D1 at the Naval Academy in college and later transitioned to hole set at UCI. While at UCI, he received the CWPA All-American distinction and Golden Coast Conference All-American Honoree.

Christian coached at Power Aquatics, OCWPC, Trabuco Hills High School and SMCHS. At OCWPC he coached multiple age groups, including splash ball, 10u, 12u and 14u. At Trabuco, he was the JV Boys team's Varsity Assistant Coach and Head Coach. He coached JV girls at SMCHS in 2018. He is now the Director of the Masters program at Power Aquatics. Christian still competes at a higher level in water polo, recently awarded the Masters All-American while competing at the 2022 Masters National Championships.
 

Boys Water Polo Alumni

• 1994 - Paul Ferguson, Air Force
• 1996 - Stephen Ferguson, Long Beach State
• 1997 - Trevor Walsh, Princeton
• 1998 - Chris Ansevin, George Washington
• 1998 - Justin Kroeze, USC
• 1998 - Tyler Wilson, Dartmouth
• 2002 - Nick Nolan, UCLA
• 2003 - Cutberto Hernandez, LMU
• 2003 - Tommy Markel, Pacific
• 2005 - David Husen, UCSB
• 2005 - Julien Lormant, LMU
• 2007 - Mark Connor, Fordham
• 2007 - Eric Macey, Cal Maritime
• 2008 - Mike Lockett, Custa
• 2008 - Tyler Simmons, Concordia
• 2009 - Ross Kirkbaumer, George Washington
• 2010 - Rutger Choquehuanca, LMU
• 2011 - Tony Vuona, UCI
• 2013 - Stephen Riggins, UCLA
• 2017 - Jack Baumgardner, UCI
• 2012 - Pablo Carballo, UCI
• 2013 - Riley Smith, LMU
• 2014 - Chandler Kaltenbach, Long Beach State
• 2014 - Troy Kaltenbach, Long Beach State
• 2014 - Garrett Kaltenbach, Long Beach State
• 2015 - Logan Wright, University of Redlands
• 2015 - Spencer Lupin, Pepperdine
• 2015 - Sam Slobodien, USC
• 2015 - Ryan Melosini, Princeton
• 2016 - Austin Clark, LMU
• 2016 - Tanner Kaplan, CLU
• 2016 - Alex Piechuch, US Naval Academy
• 2016 - Rex Sample, La Verne
• 2017 - Jack Baumgartner, UCI
• 2018 - Brock Petersen, UCLA
• 2018 - Chase Petersen, UCLA
• 2018 - Noah Hodge, Harvard
• 2018 - AJ Rossman, Stanford
• 2018 - Jacob Wright, UC Davis
• 2019 - Yurian Quinones, Princeton
• 2019 - Jake Marquez - UCSD
• 2019 - Angel Sanchez - Cal Baptist
• 2019 - Nick Maramica - Claremont McKenna
• 2020 - Will Kieckhafer - Cal
• 2020 - Wyatt Clark - UCSB
• 2020 - Aidan Nettekoven - Claremont McKenna
• 2021 - Cole McKechnie, Navy
• 2021 - Speedy Laster, Stanford
• 2021 - Marko Maramica, UCSB
• 2021 - Connor Cohen, USC
• 2021 - Matty Walsh, Pepperdine
• 2021 - Ben Kirshon, Brown
• 2022 - Zachary Cwiertnia, Pepperdine University 
• 2022 - Daniel Palfi, Johns Hopkins University
• 2022 - Lott (Quint) Steffey, Johns Hopkins University
• 2023 - Spencer Averitt, USC
• 2024 - Max Ellis, Air Force Academy
• 2024 - Keegan McGann, UCI
• 2025 - Aidan Stone, Bucknell University