Three local players, headed by San Marcos High graduate Paige Hauschild of USC, were selected to the NCAA Division 1 Women’s All-America team by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches.
Hauschild, a sophomore, made the All-America first team for the second straight year. The two-time finalist for the Cutino NCAA Player of the Year Award has scored 117 goals in just two seasons, which included 49 this year.
She delivered the sudden-death, game-winning goal to beat Stanford in this year’s MPSF Tournament championship game. She also struck three goals in USC’s 10-8 overtime win in the NCAA semifinals against Cal.
Ryann Neushul of NCAA champion Stanford, a former Dos Pueblos High star, and UCSB’s Kate Pipkin were chosen as third-team All-Americans.
DIVING
BLOCK HEADED TO CHINA
Noah Block, a San Marcos High sophomore, has been selected to work out next month at China’s National Diving Training Facility in Nanjing.
Block, 16, won the Channel League championships this season and placed seventh in the CIF-Southern Section’s Division 2 championships.
“This young man has the capability to go right to the top,” said San Marcos coach Trish Salvatore. “He listens, takes corrections, follows my directions then does it. He is an outstanding athlete.”
Salvatore was a judge at the Cannnnonball Express Dive Event at Oak Christian School in Westlake. On the judging panel, she found herself sitting next to Daniel Rosendahl, a USA Diving referee and coach for the Southern Harvard Westlake team and the Valley Dive Sherman Oaks club team. Salvatore and Rosendahl were comparing observations regarding the divers and Rosendahl suddenly said, pointing to Noah:
She said Block was selected for the summer training after being spotted by Daniel Rosendahl, a coach and USA Diving referee.
“I want to take that guy with me to China this summer … He’s phenomenal and has amazing potential,” she quoted Rosendahl as saying.
Block will train with some of the most elite divers in the world and with Deliang Li (head coach) and Tran Chen (assistant coach) from the Jiangsu Diving Team at the National Diving Training Facility in Nanjing.
ALL-SPORTS AWARD
WESTMONT FINISHES FIRST
For the seventh year in a row, Westmont College has earned the Golden State Athletic Conference All-Sports Award presented by Duke’s Restaurant in Huntington Beach. The annual award recognizes the institution that has produced the best regular season results in a given year.
“This year’s award was a bit more meaningful,” Westmont athletic director Dave Odell said. “In many respects, this was a tough year. A year of bad breaks, unlucky bounces, and too many freak injuries had us third in the GSAC standings through the winter.
“Our spring sports turned that around. Track’s continued dominance, a historical women’s tennis season and a strong baseball finish carried the day. As the GSAC continues to become more competitive, this award becomes harder to win, so we are thankful for this result.”
In the fall, Westmont claimed second place finishes in men’s and women’s cross country, women’s volleyball and women’s soccer. Women’s basketball added to the Warriors’ resume with a second-place finish in March.
Women’s tennis provided Westmont with its first GSAC championship of the 2018-19 season by going undefeated (12-0) in conference play. Westmont men’s and women’s track and field helped secure the All-Sports trophy with their seventh and third consecutive GSAC championship, respectively.
No Warrior team finished below fourth in the GSAC standings.
During the 2018-19 season, Westmont sent 11 of 14 teams to compete in the NAIA National Championships.
