USC Men’s Water Polo Jake Ehrhardt Earns First Selection as Peter J. Cutino Award Finalist

Men’s Water Polo | 08 May 2023

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

In his fifth season of his work with the Trojans,Jake Ehrhardtbagged a fifth set of All-America honors with a spot on the 2022 All-America First Team. The captain finished his USC career as the Trojans’ sixth all-time leading scorer with 179 career goals after scoring 55 goals in 2022 for the Trojans. goals, including a career-high five goals in an important MPSF win over Stanford. With Ehrhardt’s steadfast leadership, defensive skill and offensive prowess, the Trojans won the 2022 MPSF Tournament Championship to secure the program’s 18th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. There, USC made a powerful move past rival UCLA in the semifinals to face top-seeded host California in the finals, falling in that title game to finish the year at 20-7 overall.

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

Ehrhardt is joined by Nikolaos Papanikolaou of California and Reuel D’Souza of Pacific as the men’s finalist for this 2022-23 Cutino Award. The finalists for women 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, the former coach of the University of California Berkeley and The Olympic Club, who passed away in September 2004. mr. Cutino is in the US Water Polo Hall of Fame. He won “Water Polo Coach of the Year” 17 times. He led UC Berkeley to eight NCAA National Championships. In his career, Cutino also coached at the Pan American Games, the Water Polo World 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 streamed live for free courtesy of USA Water Polo atYouTube.com/USAWP. The broadcast includes interviews with finalists, athletes, coaches and the Cutino Award ceremony in its entirety. Those interested in attending the awards can register by visitinghttps://www.olyclub.com/cutino-awards-rsvp/.

ABOUT THE OLYMPIC CLUB

Founded in 1860, The Olympic Club has the distinction of being one of the oldest athletic clubs in America. Since its inception, The Olympic Club has promoted amateur athletics in San Francisco. The winged “O” currently fields teams in 17 sports. In addition, The Olympic Club has hosted five US Opens and looks forward to hosting the 2028 PGA Championship and 2032 Ryder Cup at the world-class Lakeside Clubhouse golf courses.

All-time Peter J. Cutino Award winners:

1998-99 –Bernice Orwig(USC)
1999-2000 – Sean Kern (UCLA) edNick Pele(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) &Moria of 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 –J. W. Krumpholz(USC) &I’m Craig(USC)
2009-10 –J. W. Krumpholz(USC) &I’m Craig(USC)
2010-11 – Ivan Rackov (California) & Annika Dries (Stanford)
2011-12 –Joel Dennerley(USC) & Kiley Neushel (Stanford)
2012-13 – Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific) & Melissa Seidemann (Stanford)
2013-14 – Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific) & Annika Dries (Stanford)
2014-15 –Kostas Genidounias(USC) & 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) & Makenzie Fischer (Stanford)
2019-20 – Ben Hallock (Stanford)
2020-21 – Nicolas Saveljic (UCLA) &Maud Megens(USC)
2021-22 – Nikolaos Papanikolaou (Cal) & Makenzie Fischer (Stanford)