Coaching Staff
Kelly Dullard (8th Year)
Head Coach
Coach Dullard enters his 8th season at Mater Dei in 2024. He was named Orange County Coach of the Year by the OC Register after leading the girls to a 9-1 dual meet record and 3rd place finish at CIF D1 Finals in the 2019 season. In 2021, the girls placed 5th in the CIF Championships. In addition to being the Head Swim Coach, Kelly is an Associate Director of Athletics at MD.
Kelly comes to Mater Dei through Concordia University Irvine where he served as a Graduate Assistant to both the men’s and women's teams while earning his Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration in 2016. While at Concordia he also served as a Graduate Assistant for Game Management and Sports Information, has worked as the YMCA of San Diego County's Teen Program Coordinator, and has served as Costa Mesa Aquatic Club's head age group coach.
Growing up in Waterbury, Connecticut Kelly received his Bachelor of Science in Sport Management from Springfield College in Massachusetts. He was a four-year member of the swim team and competed in the IM and backstroke events. Kelly's experience with all age groups and diverse organizations make him a great fit on the MD coaching staff.
Todd Mulzet (4th Year)
Head Diving Coach
Coach Todd enters his 4th season at Mater Dei in 2024. Todd has been involved in diving for over 30 years, first as a nationally ranked diver, and for the past eleven years as a top diving coach.
Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Mulzet attended the University of Pittsburgh where he received a B.S. in Mathematics and was a three-time Big East conference diver of the year. A finalist at U.S. senior nationals, and a current master’s world record holder. He began his career as a diving coach at Emory University (1990-92) and first joined Mission Viejo in 2006. Since then Mulzet has been head coach at Houston’s Cougar Diving Club (2007-10); Diving Coach for Men and Women's swimming and diving at the University of California, Berkeley (2010-16); and most recently development coach with Stanford Diving Club (2016-18). In his six seasons at Berkeley, he was a member of the coaching staff that won six NCAA team titles at Division I swimming and diving national championships. There he coached three-time all-American Kahley Rowell, a Mission Viejo alum, who finished out her career as a United States Olympic Trials finalist on the 10m platform in 2016.
As head coach of Cougar Diving Club, Mulzet coached divers to two individual junior national titles and three individual age-group national titles. He was also selected as an assistant coach for the 2009 Junior Pan Am Games with two divers earning spots on the team.
Mulzet has trained under several world-class coaches, including Julian Krug (University of Pittsburgh), Dick Kimble (University of Michigan, USA Olympic coach), and Jane Figueiredo (Great Britain Olympic coach, 2017 FINA Coach of Year). Prior to becoming a diving coach, Mulzet held positions in marketing or finance at AT&T, Ameriprise Financial Services, and Universal Music/Geffen Records.
Diego Pombo (2nd Year)
Varsity Assistant Coach
Coach Diego enters his 2nd season at Mater Dei in 2024 and is currently the head coach and owner of CMAC Masters swim team in Costa Mesa, established in 2020. In 2022, his team was the largest US representation at the Pan American Masters Swimming Championships, achieving several gold medals and an individual Pan American record.
Diego’s coaching career started 12 years ago as Masters head coach at Riptide Aquatics in Huntington Beach. He achieved Level III coach certification with US Masters Swimming and has attended several clinics on Biomechanics and Swim Technic.
Coach Diego was born in Bogotá, Colombia where he swam age group. He’s now a Masters swimmer, competes regularly and is top 5 in his events in the Southern Pacific Region. Diego is married and has three grown kids.
Hayden Hemmens (1st Year)
Varsity Assistant Coach
Coach Hayden begins his inaugural season with Mater Dei for the 2023-2024 season. Hayden graduated with a Bachelors of Business Management from UNLV, where he also competed as a Division-1 swimmer. Hayden specialized in the mid-distance freestyles and backstroke events and served as team captain his senior season. Hayden also competed at OCC and was named the California State Swimmer of the Year after winning 6/6 of his individual and relay state championship swims in the 200/500 freestyle and 200 backstroke.
Outside of the pool, Hayden takes his skills to the surf. Hayden has competed on team USA since 2014 at multiple World Championships and other international competitions. Hayden has over 15 National Championship Titles and a 2nd place at the 2018 Life Saving World Championships in Adelaide, Australia in the surf swim event.
Coach Hayden is local to Orange County and his expertise in coaching started at Costal Machine Aquatics Club in 2020. Hayden also was the assistant coach at OCC in 2021 and 2022 and helped lead the women's team to a state Championship and the men's team to state Runner-up's. From the background as a competitive swimmer himself, to coaching all ages and experiences, Coach Hayden is a great fit for our growing and thriving swim program.
Kaikea Roe (2nd Year)
Varsity Assistant Coach
Coach Kai enters his 2nd season with Mater Dei in 2023-2024. In addition to being the Assistant Head Swim Coach, Kaikea is currently an Ambulance Operator for The Huntington Beach Fire Department.
Kaikea comes to Mater Dei as a former collegiate swimmer, earning degrees from College of the Canyons and University of California Santa Barbara. While in school he also worked as a Lifeguard and Swim Instructor.
Growing up on the island of Kaua'i Hawai'i, He is a lifelong ocean enthusiast and club swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle and butterfly events. Kaikea’s experience with all age groups and diverse organizations makes him a great fit on the MD coaching staff.
Celine Dong (2nd Year)
JV Head Coach
Celine enters her 2nd year at Mater Dei in 2024 and is a recent graduate from Biola University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History and received double minors in Human Biology as well as Biblical and Theological Studies. She was a four-year NCAA Division II swimmer and primarily competed in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200 yard breaststroke. She and her team clinched 3rd place at PCSC Conference Championships in 2020. The following year, the team was crowned undefeated PCSC Conference Champs.
Outside of Mater Dei, Celine has worked at various swim clubs such as Irvine Novaquatics (NOVA), Orange County Regional Aquatics (ORCA), and Fullerton Aquatic Sports Team (FAST).
Bowen Lasher (2nd Year)
JV Assistant Coach
Bio coming soon...
Max Zinn '23 (1st Year)
Frosh/Soph Head Coach
Coach Maximilian Zinn starts off his first season with Mater Dei in 2023-2024. Previously he was a student at Mater Dei who graduated in May of 2023 and was an athlete on the team for all four years of high school. For his final year he was one of the captains for the boys team and made it to CIF in both individual races and relays. In addition, he was the lead off for the 4 by 100 relay that went to State in 2023.
Max decided to take a GAP year in between his High School and College years so that he could train with an Olympic training team in the hopes of competing at a D1 college for swimming. During this year of training, he plans on achieving Nationals times by June of 2024 and possibly making Olympic trials.
Max was born and raised in Long Beach California and still resides there with his parents, two dogs and a cat.