Irvine, CA - May 10 - USA Water Polo is proud to announce the winners of the 2022 National Awards, honoring their excellent achievements. Established in 2010, the annual awards have each been named in honor of a person or people who have made an extraordinary contribution to the sport of water polo. Winners were chosen through a zone nomination process and then reviewed by a national selection panel. See below for a complete list of winners and their accomplishments. Awards will be presented to recipients during the upcoming Junior Olympics and Masters Nationals Championship.
Congratulations to all of our honorees!
Daniel Leyson - Monte Nitzkowski Distinguished Coaching National Award Winner (Elite)
Leyson, who owns a 165-83 overall record at UC Davis and a commanding 56-4 record in Western Water Polo Association play, brought an immediate impact to the Aggie program, guiding UC Davis to an undefeated Western Water Polo Association record in his first year. The 2015 squad then reached new heights: the program's best win-loss percentage (.692) since 2007 and the highest national ranking during the regular season (No. 9) since 2011. He followed that up with a historic 2022 campaign, winning the WWPA title with a perfect 8-0 record before achieving another NCAA Tournament appearance. Leyson was named WWPA Coach of the Year following the excellent season, earning the award for the second consecutive year and for the fifth time overall. For his achievements, Leyson was awarded the Monte Nitzkowski Distinguished Men's Coaching Award by USA Water Polo and served as the head coach for USA NorCal in the second season of the USAWP National League. Never one to rest on laurels, Leyson continues to raise the bar for Aggie men's water polo. In 2016, the former U.S. National Team player and coach guided UC Davis to its first Western Water Polo Association championship and NCAA postseason appearance since 1997, setting then-school records for wins (23), winning percentage (.793), goals scored (12.6 per game) and final national ranking (No. 10). A year later, the Aggies made it back-to-back 20-win seasons by posting 22 victories and finishing No. 8 in the nation in the final national poll — its highest finish since the 1996 squad ended the year eighth following a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. In his nine years at UC Davis, Leyson has guided the Aggies to eight winning seasons — including the last seven straight — and a top-two finish at the WWPA Tournament eight times, including titles in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022. His last six teams have also finished among the top 10 in the final national polls.
Mark Lawrence - Sandy Nitta Distinguished Coaching National Award Winner (Elite)
Hometown: Fremont, CA. Playing Experience: Ohlone JC (Fremont CA), Queens College (NY), Brisbane Breakers (AUS). Coaching Experience: Mission San Jose HS / Washington HS (both in Fremont), Ohlone Renegades WPC, Arizona State (GA), MIT (Head Coach), Brown (Assistant Coach), Navy (Assistant Coach), Austin College (Head Coach). Northeast Zone ODP Boys Head Coach. Assistant Coach for Kazakhstan Women's National Team. Coached at the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China. NCAA Coaching Career: Athletes earned 21 All Americans, 126 Academic All Americans, 16 All Conference Selections, and 2 Conference Championships.
Brian Kreutzkamp – Bill Barnett Distinguished Coaching Award (Scholastic)
Brian Kreutzkamp is the current Dunlevie Family Director of Aquatics and Men's Water Polo Coach at Sacred Heart Prep, Atherton. He also serves as the club director of the Atherton Aquatics Foundation. Last year, the Sacred Heart Prep boys team won the WCAL championship, the CCS Open Division championship, and the CIF NorCal D1 championship. This is the 12th consecutive league and CCS championship for the SHP Gators and Coach Kreutzkamp. On the club side, Coach Kreutzkamp's 18u boys team won the Futures League Super Finals and finished second at the 2022 Junior Olympics. Coach Kreutzkamp is in his 18th year at Sacred Heart Prep. Previously he was the assistant coach at Stanford University (2002 NCAA Champions), and Director of the Stanford Water Polo Club. He was also the co-head coach at Newport Harbor High with Bill Barnett from 1996-2000.
Ian Hewett - Doc Hunkler Distinguished Coaching National Award Winner (Scholastic)
Ian Hewett is the 18u Girls Water Polo coach for Third Coast Aquatics Club and has been the head coach at Hudsonville High School for the last 5 years. He has brought teams to the 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 Junior Olympics. As head coach of Hudsonville, Hewett won the Michigan State Championship in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. Additionally, he was awarded coach of the year honors from the Michigan Water Polo Association in 2018 and 2019. Coach Hewett played club water polo for Grand Valley State University (2013-2017), placing 10th in the nation in 2016. Since then, he has worked with Splashball, middle school, high school, and club programs in the West Michigan area in hopes of sharing his love for the sport and helping it grow.
Gal Ben Kiki – Ted Newland Distinguished Coaching Award (Developmental)
Gal began his coaching career in 2017 at South Florida Water Polo Club being mentored by Michael Goldenberg, where he continues to coach. In 2018, he began coaching at local powerhouse Saint Thomas Aquinas High School as an assistant to Michael Goldenberg. Taking a more prominent role in the club along the years, Gal has been helping to develop athletes at the club and high school level, culminating in a 2022 Dallas Junior Olympics championship at the 14u level and a high school state championship in 2023.
Kirby Kaptur – Brent Bohlender Distinguished Coaching Award (Developmental)
Coach Kirby Kaptur is a new San Diego resident after hailing from the Midwest. While she initially fell in love with water polo through her Chicago land club and high school teams, she honed her skills and developed her water polo IQ through the Olympic Development Program. Through the National Team Pipeline, she played as an alternate for the Cadet and Youth National teams. The exposure that ODP and eight Junior Olympics provided lead to Kirby playing Division I water polo at the University of Michigan. She currently works as a scientist in Research and Development. Kirby initially gained coaching experience through the Ann Arbor club team, Wolverine Water Polo, as well as the Ann Arbor Skyline high school program. From there, she became involved as a coach for the Great Lakes Zone as part of the ODP program that provided her with the opportunity to play at a higher level. She became the Head Zone Coach for three years as the program grew over 40%. Kirby has now been coaching in San Diego for La Jolla United Water Polo Club for about a year. Since starting, she has taken on roles as the 18u girls and 14u girls head coach. Additionally she joined the PSW Zone coaching staff where she strives to continue developing her positive coaching mentality focused on driving technical and mental improvement in her athletes. Her main goal is to provide the guidance needed for athletes to achieve their success both in and out of the pool.
Jarod Lawson – Tom Hermstad National Referee Award (Scholastic)
Jarod Lawson started refereeing USA Water Polo in 2016 when he participated in his first Junior Olympics. Additionally, he has officiated in his home state of Missouri for the last 9 years where he has officiated the state final game. Lawson has played the game of water polo since 8th grade and participated in club water polo in graduate school at Lindenwood University where he helped his team earn three straight Division 1 Club national titles, setting a record for the most consecutive titles.
Jenn McCall – Bret Bernard National Referee Award (Elite)
Jenn McCall is a water polo referee at the collegiate, club, and international levels. She has officiated multiple Men's and Women's Collegiate Conference Championships, as well as the NCAA Championships, including the Final in 2022. In 2017, Jenn became an international referee and in 2020 was appointed as a FINA referee (now World Aquatics). She has had the opportunity to officiate Youth, Junior, and Senior events, most recently the Women's World Cup qualifiers in the Netherlands and Greece. Jenn played at the high school and collegiate levels, and continues to enjoy playing as a masters player. She comes from a family full of water polo players and swimmers – her parents met on a pool deck! Water polo has given Jenn great friends, a lot of fun, and a chance to meet and work with great people.
Ansel Blumenthal - Aaron Chaney Distinguished Referee National Award Winner (Developmental)
Ansel Blumenthal came into the sport of water polo in his senior year of high school as an opportunity to spend more time around his close friends who were on the swim team and playing water polo in the offseason. The learning curve was steep, but he caught the bug and continued to play in college. During his collegiate years at the University of New Mexico, his improvement in the game earned him a nomination as an all-conference player. After graduating, Ansel spent time coaching the UNM men's and women's teams before switching his attention to officiating. He has the same passion refereeing as playing, most recently participating in the 2022 Junior Olympics, ODP Regionals, ODP Nationals, Rocktober, and local tournaments in his home city of Albuquerque. Anyone that has worked with Ansel finds that his drive to become a more complete referee is a lifelong goal and one that he actively pursues.
Saahil Naik - Bryan Weaver Distinguished Male Masters Athlete of the Year National Award Winner
Saahil Naik has been a water polo athlete and dedicated masters player for nearly a decade. He started playing masters water polo at an early age and is often the youngest player on the teams he plays with. He is inspired by the older athletes around him who welcomed him into masters water polo and encouraged him to compete. He admires their continued passion for the game and hopes to continue playing water polo for many more decades to come. Saahil first began playing water polo at Olympia High School, where he was a four-year letter winner graduating in the Top 10 all-time in saves and helped secure a Florida Boys High School State Championship for the first time in school history. Saahil is a graduate of the University of Florida where he was a 4-year member of the UF Men's Water Polo team. He was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame due to his impact on the university through his numerous leadership positions and service to the community, including the various leadership positions he stepped into on the Men's Water Polo team, most notably serving as President and Treasurer. He was a standout goalkeeper for the Gators and was the starting goalie for the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament, the Brown University Bruno Classic. He led the Gators to their first-ever win over an NCAA opponent, allowing just 4 goals while posting a 73% save percentage. Saahil has coached alongside Olympic, National Team, and several NCAA head coaches through his experience at a number of camps over the years. He also coached the first youth water polo team and the first FHSAA high school program in North Florida. Saahil most recently served as coach of his alma mater, guiding the University of Florida Men's Water Polo team to a CWPA Florida Division Championship and a Top 10 Nationals finish. He has a passion for growing the sport of water polo and has helped fill the needs of new and existing clubs that did not have a goalkeeper. In doing so, Saahil has provided teams the opportunity to practice and compete in tournaments they were previously unable to. Along the way, Saahil has helped boost practice attendance, increase club membership, and encourage athletes of all ages to take up the sport of water polo. Saahil plans to attend Johns Hopkins University next year where he aims to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing NCAA Varsity water polo as a goalkeeper on the Men's Water Polo Team.
Vaune Kadlubek - Dion Gray Distinguished Female Masters Athlete of the Year National Award Winner
UNLV alumna and current director of the Division of Health Sciences Advising Center ('80 BS Physical Education, '83 MS in Exercise Physiology), Vaune Kadlubek was the first female water polo player to play on a men's high school team. She coached the USA Women's Water Polo Team, played for ten years on the first USA Women's Water Polo Team, and was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 2004. Kadlubek played in numerous USA Water Polo Masters Championships and was named 2018 Mountain Zone Bryan Weaver Distinguished Female Master Athlete of the Year.
Mika Jensen - Barbara Kalbus Distinguished Volunteer National Award Winner
Mika Jensen's passion for water polo developed during her high school years. With limited exposure and opportunity to play the sport in Northern Nevada at the time, Mika and her teammates often had to travel long distances to California and Utah to participate in tournaments and games. Active in the ODP program, she was selected for the Mountain Zone team from 2007-2010. She went on to play for Golden West College from 2010-2012. Her limited access to water polo continues to inspire her fight for youth access to the game statewide. A founding member and current president of the Colorado High School Water Polo Association, Mika is committed to bringing the sport to kids of all backgrounds and having them participate in the fall co-ed league. The all-volunteer league has grown from 6 teams at inception to possibly 11 next season. It takes an army to get this league ready to roll for the fall, and Mika works tirelessly each year to achieve this goal and continue to promote the sport and sponsor opportunity across the state of Colorado.
Andrew Lewandowski – Brenda Villa Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Individual Award
Andrew Lewandowski started playing water polo in 1984. He was a high school All-American and then a 4x All-Ivy League selection when he played at Yale University. Andy played water polo in Vietnam where he lived from 1993-1995. In 2000, Andy returned to Yale for graduate school and settled in the New Haven area. From 2002 to 2015, he coached the Yale Men's and Women's Water Polo teams, leading the Yale Men's team to six Top 10 finishes nationally during his coaching tenure, and in 2011 was voted the Collegiate Water Polo Association's National Coach of the Year. In 2010, he began running water polo clinics for children at the Ridge Top Club in North Haven, CT, and from these clinics emerged the Greater New Haven Water Polo Club in 2013-14. In 2021, Andy used his relationships with various stakeholders, including USA Water Polo, Yale University, The Foote School, and Albertus Magnus College, to run the aquatics component for grades 4 - 8 for Horizons, a summer educational enrichment program for local students. In 2022, he continued this collaboration, and the success of the program, which has served nearly 100 students, 95% of whom are from BIPOC backgrounds, led Horizons to ask Andy and his club to run its entire K - 8 aquatics program in 2023. Andy is committed to making water polo accessible to the New Haven community and looks forward to expanding the reach of our sport to under-represented populations.
DC Panthers Water Polo – Brenda Villa Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Team Award
Founded in 2022, the DC Panthers youth water polo program was created by five masters players. Coming from diverse backgrounds themselves, the founders built the organization around a mission to teach water polo and to increase aquatics confidence for kids in underserved communities in the Washington, DC area. The DC Panthers have developed a successful partnership with the Washington DC government which contributes pool space, equipment, and helps promote the program. The Panthers have developed a successful public-private framework where the Panthers can provide kids of all races, genders, and socioeconomic statuses with the chance to play the greatest sport on earth. The first Panthers program started with practices at one pool in the summer of 2022, but in less than a year have quadrupled the number of Panthers participants and expanded to a second facility. The Panthers are excited to continue to increase the number of families involved and expand the positive impact on the community. In 2023, they are looking forward to collaborating with other regional youth clubs to introduce these new players to competitive game experiences.
Background on Award Namesakes:
Monte Nitzkowski is synonymous with men's water polo in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s serving as head coach of Men's Olympic Team in 1972, 1980, and 1984, leading Team USA to a bronze medal in 1972 and a silver medal in 1984. Nitzkowski also served as an assistant coach with the 1968 and 2000 Men's Olympic Team.
Sandy Nitta is a pioneer for women's water polo. An Olympic swimmer as a teenager, Nitta segued to water polo and held the post as head coach of the Women's National Team during large parts of the 80s and 90s---leading Team USA to bronze medals at the 1986 and 1991 World Championships. She was also instrumental in the creation of Commerce Aquatics, a groundbreaking program.
Bill Barnett, an outstanding high school coach at Newport Harbor High School, with 10 CIF boys championships and five girls championships, initiated and coached the first USA Men's Junior National Team, then picked up where Nitzkowski left off in the 1980s, guiding the men's program to a silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games and a gold medal at the 1991 World Cup. Meanwhile
"Doc" Hunkler, three-times named National Collegiate Coach of the Year, was a visionary for women's water polo who fought to have a true national women's collegiate championship and helped guide the programs at Slippery Rock University to unprecedented heights spanning three decades, including ten top-three finishes and a national women's collegiate championship in 1995. Hunkler also holds the distinction as the only coach to win both a men's and women's Olympic Festival Gold Medal.
Few have groomed more men for Olympic competition than
Ted Newland. Entering the coaching scene in the late 1960s Newland turned the University of California-Irvine into a tenacious competitor, earning three NCAA titles as he coached well into the new millennium. Called by some the "godfather" of high school water polo in Northern California,
Brent Bohlender's Women's Junior National Teams captured two bronze medals from 1984 to 1999; Bohlender amassed over 1,000 career victories on the scholastic circuit in his time at Johansen High School. Lastly, on the club circuit, Bohlender's Modesto-Stanislaus club won 18 National Championships over 34 years.
Bret Bernard, Tom Hermstad, and
Aaron Chaney took US officiating to unparalleled heights during their time in the whites. As a past president of USA Water Polo, Bernard also whistled the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games and was the preeminent collegiate official for many years. Hermstad was a fixture at several Olympic Games whistling the 1972, 1976, 1984, and 1988 Olympic Games in addition to four World Championships and has worked tirelessly on behalf of water polo officials, helping to form the USA Water Polo National Referee Committee. Last but not least, Chaney capped an outstanding officiating career serving as the United States referee at the most recent Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 as well as 2004 in Athens.
Long-time manager of the Men's National Team and holder of various offices since the incorporation of USA Water Polo,
Barbara Kalbus gave back to the sport for decades, providing critical history for the USA Water Polo program and overseeing the official scoring table at various competitions in addition to numerous other roles.
Bryan Weaver founded Masters Water Polo for USA Water Polo in 1987, is an active player, and the current Masters Committee Chair. He has been a high school water polo coach for over 35 years.
Dion Gray is a pioneer in women's water polo competing for Team USA in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. A FINA World Cup Gold Medalist and multiple time FINA World Championship medalist, Gray is a longtime coach at the high school, club and national team level.
Four-time Olympic medalist
Brenda Villa carved out a legendary career in the pool as one of the best women's water polo players of all-time. Her impact on the sport is far from over as her work with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion takes center stage. Villa serves on the USA Water Polo Racial Equity & Reform Task Force, PanAm Sports Executive Committee and previously held a DEI position at The Castilleja School in Palo Alto, CA.
About USA Water Polo
USA Water Polo, Inc., is the national governing body for water polo in America, overseeing our United States Olympic program as well as 20 championship events annually, such as Junior Olympics and Masters National Championships. With more than 50,000 members, USAWP also is the sanctioning authority for more than 500 Member Clubs and more than 400 tournaments nationwide. USAWP is committed to the development of the sport throughout the U.S. It fosters grass-roots expansion of the sport, providing a national system of affiliated clubs, certified coaches, and officials.
