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ANAHEIM — One of the most enduring and respected coaching tandems in Orange County aquatics has retired at Esperanza.
Boys water polo and boys swimming coach Galen Diaz, and his longtime assistant coach Jay Mericle, completed their final meet for the Aztecs last month at the CIF-SS swimming championships at Mt. SAC.
Prior to the meet, Esperanza honored the coaching duo with a celebration on the Aztecs’ pool deck featuring alumni, families and fond memories.
“Our kids always played hard,” Diaz said. “They’re good kids. They followed the rules. What’s great to hear is the stories now and how they’re all good fathers.”
Diaz led Esperanza boys water polo and boys swimming for 29 years after replacing Doug Kimberly, one of his mentors.
From a CIF-SS Division 2 boys water polo title in 2003 to a North Hills League boys swimming championship in 2021, Mericle has been by Diaz’s side.
It was a partnership forged by respect.
Both were walk-on coaches. Diaz, 58, worked in law enforcement; Mericle, 71, in health care.
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“The culture starts with him,” Mericle said of Diaz, The Register’s Orange County boys water polo coach of the year in 2003. “The kids come here to work.”
Over the years, the talent pool included Diaz and Mericle’s own children. Mericle’s sons Jason and Brian played water polo at Esperanza as did Diaz’s daughters Ashley and Jessica.
In 2023, Ashley earned Orange County girls swimming co-coach of the year after helping guide Esperanza to the CIF-SS Division 2 title. Jessica coaches at Yorba Linda.
As Esperanza’s boys water polo coach, Diaz led Esperanza to playoffs 18 times, including two trips to the finals and four to the semifinals.
The Aztecs won 390 matches and claimed three league titles in boys water polo under Diaz.
“He stayed on and made a big influence on people,” Kimberly said Diaz, his former assistant.
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