USC men’s water polo’s Jake Ehrhardt earned first choice as a finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award

Men’s water polo | May 8, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO USCs Jake Ehrhardt is in line for the nation’s highest collegiate water polo honor, named a finalist for the men’s Peter J. Cutino Award, as announced May 8 by The Olympic Club. A five-time All-American, Ehrhardt’s Cutino finalist is the 16th such selection for a USC men’s player.

In his fifth season with the TrojansJake Ehrhardtpicked up fifth All-America honors with a spot on the 2022 All-America First Team. The captain finished his USC career as the Trojans’ all-time leading scorer with 6 in 179 career goals after playing in 55 goals for the Trojans in 2022. In the 2022 season, Ehrhardt was USC’s second leading scorer and led the Trojans with 19 multiple goals. scoring drives, including a career-high five goals in a key MPSF win over Stanford. With Ehrhardt’s steady leadership, defensive prowess and offensive prowess, the Trojans captured the 2022 MPSF Tournament title to secure the program’s 18th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. There, USC powered past rival UCLA in the semifinals and faced top-seeded host California in the finals, falling in that title game to finish the year 20-7 overall.

On the men’s side, in Cutino Award history, Ehrhardt’s selection marks the 16th time a Trojan has been named a Cutino Award finalist, following 2022 selection Nic Porter and 2021 finalist Jacob Mercep. Before that, USC had two finalists in 2016 in Blake Edwards and McQuin Baron. . Baron won the Cutino Award that year, the sixth for the USC men. Overall, USC’s past male Cutino Award winners include: Juraj Zatovic (2005), JW Krumpholz (2008 & 2009), Joel Dennerley (2011), Kostas Genidounias (2014) and McQuin Baron (2016).

In addition to Ehrhardt, California’s Nikolaos Papanikolaou and Pacific’s Reuel D’Souza are the men’s finalists for this season’s 2022-23 Cutino Award. The women’s finalists will be announced after the end of the women’s season.

Established in 1999, the award is presented annually in honor of the late Peter J. Cutino, former coach of the University of California, Berkeley and The Olympic Club, who died in September 2004. Mr. Cutino is in the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame. . He won “Water Polo Coach of the Year” 17 times. He led UC Berkeleyto to eight NCAA National Championships. During his career, Cutino also coached at the Pan American Games, the World Water Polo Championships and the World University Games.

The Cutino Awards will take place on Saturday night, June 3 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. The ceremony will be broadcast live for free courtesy of USA Water Polo atYouTube.com/USAWP. The broadcast interviews the finalists, athletes, coaches and the Cutino award ceremony as a whole. Those interested in participating in the awards can register by visitinghttps://www.olyclub.com/cutino-awards-rsvp/.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE OLYMPIC CLUB

Founded in 1860, the Olympic Club is one of America’s oldest sports clubs. Since its inception, The Olympic Club has promoted amateur sports in San Francisco. The Winged “O” currently fields teams in 17 sports. Additionally, The Olympic Club has hosted five US Opens and looks forward to hosting the 2028 PGA Championship and 2032 Ryder Cup on the world-class Lakeside Clubhouse golf courses.

All-time Peter J. Cutino Award winners:

1998-99 –Bernice Orwig(USC)
1999-2000 – Sean Kern (UCLA) &Aniko Pelle(USC)
2000-01 – Sean Kern (UCLA) and Coralie Simmons (UCLA)
2001-02 – Tony Azevedo (Stanford) and Brenda Villa (Stanford)
2002-03 – Tony Azevedo (Stanford) and Jackie Frank (Stanford)
2003-04 – Tony Azevedo (Stanford) &Moriah Van Norman(USC)
2004-05 – Tony Azevedo (Stanford) and Natalie Golda (UCLA)
2005-06 –Juraj Zatovic(USC) &Lauren Wenger(USC)
2006-07 – John Mann (Cal) and Kelly Rulon (UCLA)
2007-08 – Tim Hutten (UC Irvine) and Courtney Mathewson (UCLA)
2008-09 –JW Krumpholz(USC) &I’m Craig(USC)
2009-10 –JW Krumpholz(USC) &I’m Craig(USC)
2010-11 – Ivan Rackov (California) and Annika Dries (Stanford)
2011-12 –Joel Dennerley(USC) and Kiley Neushel (Stanford)
2012-13 – Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific) and Melissa Seidemann (Stanford)
2013-14 – Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific) and Annika Dries (Stanford)
2014-15 –Kostas Genidounias(USC) and Kiley Neushel (Stanford)
2015-16 – Garrett Danner (UCLA) &Stephanie Haralabidis(USC)
2016-17 –McQuin Baron(USC) and Ashleigh Johnson (Princeton)
2017-18 – Luca Cupid (Cal) &Amanda Longan(USC)
2018-19 – Ben Hallock (Stanford) and Makenzie Fischer (Stanford)
2019-20 – Ben Hallock (Stanford)
2020-21 – Nicolas Saveljic (UCLA) &Maud Megens(USC)
2021-22 – Nikolaos Papanikolaou (Cal) and Makenzie Fischer (Stanford)