Kayanna (Ky) Heffner recently graduated from Whittier College with a BA in Kinesiology-Nutrition and Philosophy. She is originally from a small town in Central Oregon, where she would paddle board, hike, mountain bike, and ski. She was a part of the first water polo club team to be established in her home town, which initiated her enthusiasm for the sport. She played water polo and was on swim team since 2014 in Oregon at Summit High School, but traveled to California for Junior Olympics and the Winterfest tournaments.

During her time at Whittier she was a dual sport athlete on the Women’s Water Polo Team and the Swim and Dive Team. From 2014-2016 Whittier’s Water Polo was ranked #1 in the NCAA Division III conference in the nation after winning two Championship titles. This also marked a historical event as the first ever Championship for the WomenÕs Water Polo team at Whittier.

In addition to her passion about aquatic sports, she worked as the inaugural strength and conditioning intern at Whittier, which is now a permanent position available for student athletes to apply for. In this position she helped to train 22 menÕs and women’s collegiate teams in the weight room for 2.5 years.

Her goal for Champion’s Quest is help young, aquatic athletes to find their stabilization on land and strength in the water. The challenge for Water Polo Players and Swimmers is often developing their coordination on land and finding transferrable strength that correlates to the work they do in the pool. She is currently has her TRX education, USA-W certification, CPR/First Aid Certification. Kayanna is currently under the process of completing the PES certification through NASM, and by next year hopes to obtain her CSCS through the NSCA.