The NCAA News - News and Features

January 12, 1998

Four Pepperdine players named all-Americans in water polo

Four members of Pepperdine's 1997 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship team headline the 1997 Collegiate All-American Water Polo Team announced by United States Water Polo, Inc.

Alan Hermann, Jeremy Pope, Jack Kocur and Merril Moses, each of whom played integral roles in leading Pepperdine to its first national title, lead this year's all-Americans.

Hermann, who shared 1997 championship most-valuable-player honors with Moses and Pope, was named the Division I player of the year.

John Vasek of Queens (New York), who helped the Knights to their first championship berth in 1997, garnered Division II player-of-the-year honors. Vasek was one of four Knights players named to the Division II first team.

Romas Kudirka of UC San Diego was tabbed as the top player in Division III.

Pepperdine's Terry Schroeder and Mike Sutton of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps were named Divisions I and III coaches of the year, respectively, while Shelly Rothman and Pedro DeLima of Queens shared the Division II coach-of-the-year honor.

Following are the 1997 all-American selections:

Division I

First team

Goaltender: Merril Moses, Pepperdine. Field players: Alan Hermann, Pepperdine; Brent Albright, California; Brian Heifferon, Stanford; Simun Cimerman, Southern California; Jeremy Pope, Pepperdine; Jack Kocur, Pepperdine.

Second team

Goaltender: Chris Aguilera, Stanford. Field players: Marko Pintaric, Southern California; Brad Kittredge, California; Robert Allaire, UC Irvine; Mateo Juric, Southern California; Brett Stern, UCLA; Layne Beaubin, Stanford.

Third team

Goaltender: Rich McEvoy, Southern California. Field players: Sean Kern, UCLA; Jeff Colyer, Long Beach State; Peter Stern, California; James Castle, Southern California; Ryan Peddycord, UC Santa Barbara; Kevin O'Sullivan, Brown.

Division II

First team

Goaltender: David Moore, Queens (New York). Field players: John Vasek, Queens (New Yorkj); Derek Ellingson, Queens (New York); Andre Doria, Queens (New York); Tom Beam, Slippery Rock; Ryan Phillips, Slippery Rock; Mike Gotelli, UC Davis.

Division III

First team

Goaltender: Brendon Friesen, Occidental. Field players: Romas Kudirka, UC San Diego; Gary Simon, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps; Zachary Lee, MIT; Ross Meechan, UC San Diego; Steve Greene, Pomona-Pitzer; Adam Bollenbach, UC San Diego.

Second team

Goaltender: Ryan Adams, MIT. Field players: Taj Jenson, Redlands; Sam Radestky, UC Santa Cruz; C. J. Carty, Whittier; Kevin Wallis, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps; Babak Ghassemieh, Johns Hopkins; David Farkas, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.