The Peter J. Cutino Award, named after former college water polo player and UC Berkeley coach Peter J. Cutino, is considered the most prestigious individual award in American collegiate water polo. It is given annually to the top male and female player in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The Cutino Trophy (photo courtesy of the Olympic Club)

History

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The award was first presented in 1999 by the Trustees of The Olympic Club in San Francisco.[1] The Club, founded in 1860 to support amateur athletics in the Bay Area, is one of America's oldest athletic clubs.[2] Nominees for the Cutino Award are selected by the Division I water polo coaches.[1] These coaches vote for three players as nominees, none of which can be members of their own team. The eventual winner is voted on again by the same coaches, who now rank the nominees and can vote for members of their own teams. The Olympic Club, which tabulates the votes, does not release the number of votes to avoid manipulation of the totals. Each winner receives a brass and walnut trophy, and the perpetual trophy is on display at the Olympic Club of San Francisco.

Originally the award was announced after the end of both the men's (December) and women's (May) college seasons. Former major league baseball commissioner and US Olympic Committee chair Peter Ueberroth, himself once a water polo player at San Jose State, presented the first awards on January 22, 2000. The 2001 women's winner, Coralie Simmons, was presented with her award almost a year after her season had ended because the Trustees decided to change the cycle to coincide with the academic year. Thus in June 2002, Simmons won the 2001 award, while Brenda Villa received the 2002 women's Cutino at the same ceremony. The nominees are now announced each spring, before the end of the women's NCAA water polo season, but well after the men's season ends in December of the prior year. The award ceremony is held at an Olympic Club facility in San Francisco, shortly after the Women's NCAA Championship is decided.

Peter J. Cutino Award winners

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Year Men's winner School Year Women's winner School
1999 Sean Kern UCLA 1999 Bernice Orwig USC
2000 Sean Kern UCLA 2000 Aniko Pelle USC
2001 Tony Azevedo Stanford University 2001/2002 Coralie Simmons / Brenda Villa[3] UCLA / Stanford
2002 Tony Azevedo Stanford University 2003 Jackie Frank Stanford University
2003 Tony Azevedo Stanford University 2004 Moriah van Norman USC
2004 Tony Azevedo Stanford University 2005 Natalie Golda UCLA
2005 Juraj Zatovic USC 2006 Lauren Wenger USC
2006 John Mann University of California, Berkeley 2007 Kelly Rulon UCLA
2007 Tim Hutten UC Irvine 2008 Courtney Mathewson UCLA
2008 J. W. Krumpholz USC 2009 Kami Craig USC
2009 J. W. Krumpholz USC 2010 Kami Craig USC
2010 Ivan Rackov University of California, Berkeley 2011 Annika Dries Stanford University
2011 Joel Dennerley USC 2012 Kiley Neushul Stanford University
2012 Balazs Erdelyi University of the Pacific 2013 Melissa Seidemann Stanford University
2013 Balazs Erdelyi University of the Pacific 2014 Annika Dries Stanford University
2014 Konstantinos Genidounias USC 2015 Kiley Neushul Stanford University
2015 Garrett Danner UCLA 2016 Stephania Haralabidis USC
2016 McQuin Baron USC 2017 Ashleigh Johnson Princeton University
2017 Luca Cupido University of California, Berkeley 2018 Amanda Longan USC
2018 Ben Hallock Stanford University 2019 Makenzie Fischer Stanford University
2019 Ben Hallock Stanford University 2020 COVID - No Season
2020 Nicolas Saveljic UCLA 2021 Maud Megens USC
2021 Nikolaos Papanikolaou University of California, Berkeley 2022 Makenzie Fischer Stanford University
2022 Nikolaos Papanikolaou University of California, Berkeley 2023 Aria Fischer Stanford University

(Source: Olympic Club[4]) (Source: Swimming World Magazine[5]) (Source: Swimming World Magazine[6])

Notes

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  1. ^ a b The Cutino Chronicles "The Cutino Chronicles". Archived from the original on 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2007-08-09. Retrieved 2007-08-08
  2. ^ The Olympic Club: History Archived 2007-07-17 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2007-08-08
  3. ^ Coralie was awarded in June 2001, but celebrated in June 2002, Brenda won for 2002 and was celebrated in 2002
  4. ^ Olympic Club San Francisco: 2015 Peter Cutino Awards Banquet Retrieved 2015-06-14
  5. ^ Swimming World: Goalies Rule - Princeton’s Johnson, USC’s Baron Win Cutino Awards Retrieved 2018-09-20
  6. ^ Swimming World: Cupido and Longan Capture 2018 Cutino Awards at The Olympic Club Retrieved 2018-09-20

See also

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