Seven from men’s water polo named All-Academic


After earning a second-place finish in the NCAA Championship, seven athletes on the men’s water polo team earned academic distinctions through the MPSF. A total of seven Trojans were named to the MPSF All-Academic Scholar-Athlete honor roll, with five athletes earning added distinctions for finishing the season with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.

The distinction is awarded to student-athletes who are upperclassmen and maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 throughout the semester. The Trojans often perform well on the list, earning four honors last year, but this season’s achievement was one of the highest in the program’s history.

Junior utility Mihajlo Milicevic made the list for the second year in a row with a team-high 3.68 GPA after also receiving the NCAA Elite 90 Award, which recognizes the top student-athletes in the country. He was joined by junior drivers Matteo Morelli and Lazar Pasuljevic in their second years of recognition.

Earning their first MPSF distinctions were junior driver Blake Edwards, redshirt sophomore drivers Tim Leong and Brock Hudnut and redshirt freshman driver Daniel Leong.

The athletes honored made an impact for the Trojans in the pool as well as in the classroom this season. Edwards led the team in scoring with 42 goals on the season, followed closely by Morelli who notched a total of 37. Together, the team took the 2016 MPSF Championship and secured a spot in the NCAA title match for the 12th season in a row before losing in an upset to Cal.