Award nominees revealed
By Bryan Chu
May 15, 2006 9:00 p.m.
Early last week the seventh-annual Peter J. Cutino Award ““
water polo’s version of the Heisman Trophy ““ nominees
were unveiled.
But the water polo community was surprised by the names not on
that list.
Out of the three nominees, none was from UCLA. This is the first
time a Bruin has not been nominated since the inception of the
award.
Stanford sophomore goalie Meredith McColl, USC junior driver
Brittany Hayes, who was nominated last year, and teammate Lauren
Wenger, a senior two-meter forward, were nominated for the
prestigious award.
Snubbed were UCLA junior driver Kelly Rulon, who led the Bruins
in scoring with 48 goals, and senior utility Thalia Munro, who was
a nominee last season and widely considered the best defender in
the country. Both Bruins were members of the 2004 Olympic team that
captured the bronze medal. Rulon was named to the All-MPSF First
Team and Munro to the All-MPSF Second Team.
“I guess it’s because ‘SC had such a great
year and a lot of the players split votes,” coach Adam
Krikorian said. “The players that were nominated are
deserving (of the award).”
The coach added, “Maybe I am biased, but I have a couple
of players that are just as deserving. I thought this year the
top-10 players were close. In a way it’s
disappointing.”
Said Rulon on not getting nominated: “It’s always
nice to have personal accolades, but at the end of the day you look
into NCAA Championships much more than individual
accolades.”
Nominees for the Cutino Award are selected by the 58 Division I
women’s water polo coaches. These coaches vote for three
nominees, none of which can be members of their own team. The
eventual winner will be voted on again by the 58 coaches, but this
time, coaches rank the players and can vote for members of their
own team.
The Olympic Club, which tabulates the votes, does not release
the number of votes for fear that they will be manipulated. Asked
how close both Rulon and Munro were to being nominated, athletic
director Gary Crook said they finished fourth and fifth,
respectively.
As for the reasoning behind why UCLA will not be represented at
the annual ceremony, Crook could only speculate.
“Sometimes if a team has a lot of good players, votes are
spread thinner versus a school that has one good player,”
Crook said. “UCLA has the depth.”
Interestingly enough, Hawai’i utility Iefke Van Belkum,
who was named MPSF Player of the Year, was not nominated; the
sophomore from the Netherlands led the conference in scoring with
65 goals in 27 games.
The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on June 3 at the
Olympic Club in San Francisco at 6 p.m.
McColl, recently named to the All-MPSF First Team, has 207 saves
this season for the Cardinal, and has allowed only 109 goals in her
26 games as goalie. Hayes leads the Trojans in scoring with 48
goals and was also named to the All-MPSF First Team. Wenger is
fifth on the Trojan’s scoring list with 32 goals.
Last season, UCLA’s Natalie Golda received the Cutino
Award.
AROUND THE MPSF: Fourth-year coach Michel Roy
was named MPSF Coach of the Year. Roy led the Rainbow Wahine to a
second-place finish in the MPSF Tournament in Irvine after handing
USC its first loss of the season. … Stanford driver Lauren Silver
earned the Newcomer of the Year Award. … UCLA junior goalie Emily
Feher, senior center Kristina Kunkel and sophomore driver Jillian
Kraus earned All-MPSF Honorable Mentions. Driver Anne Belden was
named to the MPSF All-Freshman Team.
