BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Recent Macalester College graduate Jess Palmer-Sammons (Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay) was featured in the Coastside News (Calif.) as she prepares to head to Peru for a two-year assignment with the Peace Corps.
To read the story, CLICK HERE.
A 2025-26 College Sports Communicators (CSC) National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Women’s At-Large Academic All-America First Team selection, her mission with the Peace Corps continues a lineage of achievements.
A three-time All-Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) first team selection and the CWPA Most Valuable Player in 2025 and 2026, Palmer-Sammons made the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Division III All-America second team in 2026 after receiving All-America honorable mention the previous two seasons. This year she led Macalester with 48 goals and 32 assists for 80 points in 22 games this season. In three games at the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championships hosted by Wheaton College in Norton, Mass, on Friday-Sunday, April 10-12, Palmer-Sammons tallied six goals and five assists for 11 points to lead the Scots to the CWPA title as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
At the USA Water Polo Division III National Championship on Saturday-Sunday, April 25-26, at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in Pomona, Calif., she scored one of Macalester’s two goals against eventual-champion Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, then had two goals, an assist and four steals in a 7-6, comeback victory over Carthage College in the third-place game. Also a key component in the Scots’ defense, she registered 51 steals. In 78 career matches at Macalester, she has 153 goals and 70 assists for 223 points while swiping 131 steals.
A biology and Spanish double-major at Macalester, Palmer-Sammons has earned the ACWPC All-Academic Award three times and has made the CSC Academic All-District team three times. At Macalester Athletics’ year-end celebration in May, she was named the M Club Women’s Team Student-Athlete of the Year, which recognizes the Macalester student-athlete who has contributed the most to the team’s success through athletic achievement, leadership and academic excellence.
