Sandra Nitta

Alexandra Hauka Nitta (born April 24, 1949), usually referred to as "Sandra" or "Sandy" is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States in the 100-meter breaststroke as a 15-year-old at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

[5] Commerce City swimmers often attended national championships and had an exceptional women's team that in addition to Sandy included 1964 Olympians Sharon Stouder, Patty Caretto, and Jeanne Hallock Craig.

[4] Sandy set a qualifying time of 1:22.3 for the Olympic Trials in the 100-meter breastroke at the AAU National Outdoor Swimming Championships in Los Altos, California on August 1, 1964.

[8] The prior day at the National Championships in Los Altos, she swam a 2:53.5 in the Women's 200-meter breastroke.

In her first year of coaching, she led the City of Commerce Water Polo Team to win their first National Junior Championship.

[4] One of her players prior to 1984, Brenda Villa, made the winning goal in a game against Italy in 1990 which qualified the United States Women's Water Polo team to attend the Olympics.

In 1997, Sandy also helped recruit Maureen O'Toole, who became a valuable member of the 2000 Olympic Team.

[13][14] During her tenure, Sandy faced challenges due to limited corporate and government funding.

Through 1994, Women's Water Polo was not an Olympic Sport and members of the team had to pay their own way for international travel.

Outstanding distance swimmer and author Lynne Cox served as the U.S. Women's team's manager, attempting to raise corporate funds.

[4] Sandy hosted the first International Women's Water Polo Tournament in Commerce, California on December 27–29, 19977 at the Commerce Aquatorium with teams competing from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Holland, and Australia, which paved the way for additional international events for women in the following years.