University of Nevada Athletics

After serving as a volunteer assistant with Nevada for three seasons, second-year head coach Brendon Bray promoted Mengjiao Mi to become the Pack’s assistant coach in 2016. Mi, who goes by JoJo, was a member of the staff that led the team to the school’s first Mountain West swimming & diving title in 2016.

Mi has been around the Wolf Pack family for six years now, as she has been a representative of the University in more facets than just one. As an undergraduate student and swimmer, a master’s graduate and volunteer coach under three different coaching staffs, Mi provides a wealth of knowledge about Nevada and the surrounding community that Bray believes to be beneficial for the program as a whole.

Mi received the 2013 Ruth I. Russell Award that recognizes the top Nevada female athlete as selected by the Wolf Pack coaches. Her senior season she won three events at the MW Championships; the 200, 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle events. She set MW Championship records in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle.

She also won eight Western Athletic Conference titles in three seasons when Nevada competed in the WAC. In 2010 she was selected as the WAC Freshman of the Year.

One of the most successful swimmers in Nevada’s history, Mi set four individual program records as a senior and became the first swimmer since 2008 to compete at the NCAA Championships three consecutive years. Currently, she holds Pack records in the 500, 1000 and 1,650-yard freestyle events. Her time in the 200-yard freestyle ranks second at Nevada and she is tied for the eighth fastest time in the 100-yard freestyle.

Mi also swam on three relays that rank in the top five in school history. The 800-yard relay is the third fastest in Pack history, while the 400-yard medley is fourth and the 400-yard freestyle ranks fifth.

She competed on China’s National team from 2003-09, where in 2007, Mi won the 200 freestyle at the China National University Games. Competing in the 2006 Sydney World Youth Championships, she placed first in the 400 freestyle. At the ASEM Youth Games held in Bangkok, she was a triple winner, swimming to first place finishes in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle events. She captured the 400 and 800 freestyle events at the 2004 World Cup Championships hosted by Daejeon, Korea.

In addition to serving as a volunteer coach with the Wolf Pack, since graduation, she has worked with China’s National team and taught private lessons. She volunteered with Special Olympics and the City of Sparks parks and recreation department.

Academically, she was an NCAA Scholastic All-America in 2013 and earned MW scholar athlete honors the same season. In 2011 and 2012 she was a WAC scholar-athlete.

Mi graduated from the University of Nevada in 2013 with a degree in community health science and earned her master’s degree in public health in 2016. She was recently married to her husband William Wang.