By SwimSwam on SwimSwam Courtesy: Collegiate Water Polo BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — 11 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) athletes are among 32 selections to the 2024 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Division III All-America team. Divided into eight First Team, eight Second Team and 16 Honorable Mention honorees, the ACWPC Division III All-America team is selected based on nominations and voting by the head coaches of each Division III varsity program. Augustana College leads the conference with five All-America nods, while Austin College (two) and Macalester College (two ..read more

By SwimSwam on SwimSwam Courtesy: USA Water Polo Los Angeles, CA – May 30, 2024 — U.S. Olympic Women’s Water Polo Team Head Coach Adam Krikorian announced the 13 athletes selected to represent Team USA at the upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024, earlier today at a press conference at Republique in Los Angeles. The USOPC will confirm the full Team USA roster for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in July. The roster for the three-time defending Olympic champions and current World Champions features six returners from the Tokyo Olympic Games, five of which also earned gold at the Rio Olympic ..read more

By James Sutherland on SwimSwam Dennis Bledsoe, a water polo innovator who co-authored a how-to book on the sport in the 1970s, was celebrated by some of his former athletes recently as he turned 85. Bledsoe and the legendary Pete Cutino published “Water Polo For Coach and Player” in 1976, during Bledsoe’s early days at Clayton High School where he coached swimming and water polo for nearly 40 years, from the early 1970s until 2010. Many of his former water polo players, swimmers and students got together on May 23 to celebrate his 85th birthday and share many memories. “He touched the lives ..read more

By SwimSwam on SwimSwam Courtesy: USA Water Polo San Francisco, CA – May 21 – The Olympic Club has announced the women’s finalists for the Peter J. Cutino Award, an iconic honor in NCAA water polo to recognize the best men’s and women’s players each year. The women’s finalists are Bia Mantellato Dias (Hawaii), Isabel Williams (California), and Lauren Steele (UCLA). Bia Mantellato Dias was named Big West Player of the Year and a member of the All-Big West First Team for the second consecutive season. She was a key part of the run to t ..read more

By SwimSwam on SwimSwam Courtesy: UCLA Athletics BERKELEY, Calif. — No. 1 UCLA (26-0) captured its eighth NCAA Championship and its 12th National Championship in program history with a 7-4 win at No. 3 California (19-7) on Sunday evening at Spieker Aquatics Complex. With the win, UCLA improved to 65-14 all-time against the Golden Bears. UCLA completed just the third undefeated season in program history, joining the 2005 (33-0) and 2008 (33-0) teams. Just five squads ever have now had perfect runs to NCAA Championships, with USC doing it twice (2004 and 2016). Cal Release The Bruin ..read more

By SwimSwam on SwimSwam #3 Cal Beats #2 Hawaii 9-6 Box Score Courtesy: Cal Athletics BERKELEY, Calif. – For the first time since 2011 – and the second time in program history – the No. 3 California women’s water polo team is headed to the NCAA Championship game. The Golden Bears (19-6) came out on fire in Saturday’s NCAA semifinal against No. 2 Hawaii (23-4) and never looked back, holding at least a three-goal lead for the entirety of the second half. As has been the case since the first game of the season, Cal was powered by its defense, which held an opponent to a season low in g ..read more

By Anya Pelshaw on SwimSwam The US Women’s Water Polo team was surprised with concerts to see Taylor Swift while in Paris earlier this week. The concert was held in the Paris La Defense Arena, the same venue that will host swimming and water polo finals for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. The women’s national team manager Ally Beck had reached out to Swift’s managers to surprise the team with the tickets. This was not the only exciting news for the team in the last week as earlier in the week, rapper Flavor Flav announced he would help support the team as they head to Paris in just over two m ..read more

By SwimSwam on SwimSwam Courtesy: USA Water Polo Irvine, CA – May 8, 2024 – USA Water Polo, in collaboration with the NCAA and ESPN, is excited to once again present LIVE coverage of the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship final in 2024. The biggest prize in college water polo will be decided at the Spieker Aquatics Complex on campus at the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, CA live on ESPNU and ESPN+ on Sunday, May 12 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. Outside of the United States, water polo fans will be able to watch the telecast on ESPN networks and digital platforms in ..read more

By SwimSwam on SwimSwam Courtesy: USC Athletics BLOOMINGTON, IND. — The No. 5 USC women’s water polo team finished fourth at the MPSF Tournament after taking a tight 12-11 loss to No. 4 Stanford in today’s third-place game in Bloomington, Ind. Now 18-8 overall, the Trojans await the announcement of the NCAA Tournament bracket, taking place tomorrow (April 29). USC had a powerful start to the game, controlling things on both ends of the pool and rattling off four straight goals. Rachel Gazzaniga lit the fuse with a bar-in blast to net a 2-1 lead for the Trojans, and then fellow fresh ..read more

By SwimSwam on SwimSwam Courtesy: Indiana Athletics BLOOMINGTON, Ind.  –  Three players scored two goals each, but 6-seed Indiana couldn’t overcome a slow start as it fell to 5-seed Arizona State in the 5th place game of the MPSF Championships on Sunday at Counsilman-Billinglsley Aquatic Center. KEY MOMENTS Senior Kallie White capitalized early in the first on a 6-on-5 opportunity to put IU (21-10) ahead, but the Sun Devils (23-8) fired off five unanswered goals to take a 5-1 lead. Junior Portia Sasser and graduate student Zoe Crouch each sco ..read more