April 9, 2008

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Eight members of the 2007-08 UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team received All-Academic honors it was announced recently by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. Sophomore Zsombor Vincze, senior Coulson Lantz, and junior Mark Knudtsen led the team, all receiving awards in the "Outstanding" level.

The awards are given to all men's water polo players that competed during the fall 2007 season and accumulated a 3.2 or higher grade point average.

Vincze and Lantz each accumulated a 4.0 GPA and earned an "Outstanding" distinction, as did Knudtsen, who accumulated a 3.90 GPA.

Freshman Milos Golic, junior Michael Machado, freshman Brian Bishop, and junior Ratko Paunovic each earned "Superior" level awards for posting GPA's above 3.4. Senior Matt Dale rounded out the list with an award in the "Excellent" category for his 3.33 GPA.

A total of 132 athletes were named to the list and UC Santa Barbara's eight honorees tied fifth with Stanford for total players on a single team honored. John's Hopkins University leads the crowd with 12 team members receiving the award. UCSB's collective team GPA of 2.913 ranked 10th overall.

These eight awards come in addition to the 10 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Academic All-Conference honors that were awarded to Gauchos in January.

The 2007 UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team ended the season with a 19-14 overall record and a sixth-place finish in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Tournament. The Gauchos also finished the regular MPSF season in a tie for sixth-place with Pepperdine with their 3-5 conference record. UCSB ended the season ranked sixth nationally for the second consecutive year in the final Collegiate Water Polo Association Top 20 Poll.