Two water polo standouts receive Cutino Award
A national splash · Women of Troy’s Kami Craig, above, and J,W, Krumpholz of the men’s team, not pictured, took home the Cutino honor. - Katelynn Whitaker | Summer Trojan
USC water polo players Kami Craig and J.W. Krumpholz were named the 2009 recipients of the Cutino Award at a banquet held Saturday in San Francisco. The Cutino Award is given each year to the nation’s best collegiate water polo players, men’s and women’s, as voted on by Division I coaches.
Craig, a redshirt junior two-meter last season, helped lead the Women of Troy to a 26-2 record, a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference championship and an appearance in the NCAA national championship game. She scored 40 goals on the season and was named MPSF Player of the Year.
Craig took a redshirt during the 2008 season to compete with the United States national team in the Olympics, winning a silver medal in Beijing. She scored 38 goals in each of her first two seasons at USC and was named an All-American both years.
Krumpholz, a junior two-meter, was the leading scorer with 43 goals on USC’s 2008 undefeated national champion men’s squad. He scored in 24 of the Trojans’ 29 games, helping bring home a MPSF title, the national championship and the program’s first undefeated season since 1944.
The trophy chest is already full for Krumpholz as he took home Co-MPSF Player of the Year honors, the 2008 National Player of the Year award and was named the MVP of both the MPSF and NCAA tournaments. He, too, joined the U.S. national team in Beijing last summer and won a silver medal.
Krumpholz has 101 career goals and has been named an All-American in each of his three years as a Trojan.
Stanford’s Jimmie Sandman and UCLA’s Krsto Sbuega were the other male finalists for the Cutino Award. The women’s finalists were UCLA’s Tanya Gandy and USC’s Michelle Stein, who led the Women of Troy with 75 goals last season.
Craig and Krumpholz became USC’s sixth and seventh recipients of the prestigious award. The sweep of both the men’s and women’s awards was the second in program history after Juraj Zatovic and Lauren Wenger took home the hardware in 2006.