Sonya Whitman recently completed her 15th season as head coach of the Cathedral Prep Women’s Swim Team (previously Villa Maria Academy; 170-18-1) and fourth season as the head coach of the Men’s Swim Team (45-2). She has led her squads to four PIAA AA Team State Championship wins – two with the girls in 2019 and 2021 and two with the boys in 2023 and 2026. In addition, the girls finished as the PIAA AA Team State Runners-up in 2024 and 2025 and earned third place team finishes in 2022 and 2023, while the boys finished third as a team in 2025.
Whitman was named the NFHS Girls Swimming & Diving Pennsylvania State Coach of the Year in both 2019 and 2021, as well as NFHS Girls Swimming & Diving Sectional Coach of the Year for the Mideast Section in 2019.
Under her guidance, the girls medley relay team won state gold four consecutive years in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 (no PIAA meet in 2020 due to COVID), along with gold medals for the 200 freestyle relay teams in 2018 and 2024. The girls added two more golds to that total with state wins in both the medley and 200 freestyle relays in 2025, and the boys earned gold in the medley relay in 2023 for a total of nine state champion relays. Several female and male swimmers have earned individual medals at the PIAA State Championships under her leadership, with the girls highest individual finish in school history touching the wall as runner-up in the girls 100 backstroke in 2025 and an individual champ on the boys side in the 100 butterfly in 2026.
She has also coached three individuals and three relays to NISCA All-American status on the women’s side. Throughout her career, numerous swimmers have earned All-State, All-State Honorable Mention, and Academic All-American honors. All of the current women’s school records have been set during her tenure as well as the men’s school records in the medley relay, 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle, and 100 backstroke. Over the past 11 years of Whitman’s career, the women’s team won the Region 3 and the District 10 AA championship titles every year, while the boys earned those same honors during her four seasons with them.
Currently, Whitman is the Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Communications at Cathedral Prep. She and her husband, Brad, have one son, Jack (16) and one daughter, Brooke (8).
