Men’s Water Polo Competes at Nationals

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Men’s Water Polo Competes at Nationals Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/11/2022 - 00:00

Andrew Daigle

This fall, ��ֱ�� men’s water polo returned to the National Collegiate Club Championship for the eighth time in 25 years. The Buffaloes won the Rocky Mountain Division tournament, which earned the team a spot at Nationals, Nov. 12–14, 2021, in Huntsville, Alabama.

Despite the club’s longtime success, they faced a number of challenges: the cancellation of the 2020 season, nascent relationships among teammates and no prior experience at Nationals.

“Coming off a season with no team, a lot of our players were true freshmen and sophomores and juniors who didn’t play the year before,” said head coach Adam Hurd (Econ’17).

Men’s water polo practices in the ��ֱ�� Recreation Center pool and is funded by player dues. Players are divided into A and B teams that compete in weekend tournaments. Only the A team goes to Nationals.

In the Rocky Mountain Division, Utah is ��ֱ��’s undisputed rival. While ��ֱ�� beat Utah in their first match of 2021 in early October, Utah dominated the rematch 14-7 two weeks later.

“The second game was a wake-up call. That motivated us to work harder and practice more seriously,” said first-year player Benji Budic (EBio’25).

The A team faced Utah again in the Division Championship Oct. 31, winning 16-9 and avenging Utah’s 2019 conference tournament victory over the Buffs. Getting to Nationals involved more than beating Utah. Each player had to pay their share of the $20,000 trip. To help defray costs, the team set up a GoFundMe page, which later became a ��ֱ�� donation site.

Then, their flight to Huntsville was canceled — and team president Patrick Tippens (AeroEngr’22) spent an off day changing each player’s ticket and incurring hefty fees.

“We didn’t arrive until 4 a.m. and we had a game at noon,” Tippens said. “That was brutal.”

The fourth-seeded Buffaloes beat Georgia Tech 12-7 in that opening match before losing 16-11 to eventual National Champion Michigan State. After a 12-10 overtime loss to McKendree University, the Buffaloes defeated Pennsylvania 9-8 to earn seventh place in the nation.

Find out more about ��ֱ�� Boulder’s 30 sports clubs.

Submit feedback to the editor

Photo courtesy ��ֱ�� Men’s Water Polo

Men’s water polo’s “A Team” competed in the 2021 National Collegiate Club Championship.

Off

Traditional

Spring 2022

White