Local water polo stars Jamie Neushul and Paige Hauschild, both fighting for spots on the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team, were among 11 players selected on Tuesday to compete for the USA Women’s National Team at the Pan American Games.
Neushul’s older sister Kiley, a veteran of America’s gold-medal run at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, was also chosen by coach Adam Krikorian to play in the Pan American Games, which will be held Aug. 4-10 in Lima, Peru.
It will be the first time Team USA fields a reduced roster since the International Olympic Committee’s announcement that active rosters must be reduced from 13 to 11 for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The U.S. is currently half-way through a four-game friendly series with Greece, fielding a roster of 13. Team USA opened the series on Saturday at Riverside City College, with Kiley Neushul scoring three goals and sister Jamie adding another in a 17-6 victory.
The U.S. beat Greece again on Monday at Newport Harbor High, 14-3, with Kiley Neushul and Hauschild both scoring one goal apiece.
The series will resume on Thursday at 5 p.m. at the SODA Aquatic Center in Moraga and finish on Saturday at 7 p.m. at University of the Pacific’s Chris Kjeldsen Pool in Stockton.
The team currently has eight holdovers from the 2016 Olympics, leaving just three spots on its the Olympic roster for eight candidates: Jamie Neushul, Hauschild, Brigitta Games, Amanda Longan, Jordan Raney, Stephania Haralabidis, Gabby Stone and Alys Williams.
Jamie Neushul, Hauschild, and Williams were the only non-Olympians that Krikorian selected on Tuesday to compete in the Pan American Games.
Prior to the Pan American Games, Team USA will take part in the FINA World Championships July 14-27 in Gwangju, South Korea. The Americans have won the last two FINA World Championships and four overall. The 13-athlete roster for that event will be announced in the coming weeks.
TRIATHLONS
KJOLLER FUNDRAISER
Dawn Schroeder and her son, Grant, will be competing at Ironman Canada on July 28 to benefit for the Marcie Fund.
The fund is in memory of UCSB Fall of Fame swimmer Marcie Kjoller, who passed away three months ago at the age 50.
The Schroeders are asking people to donate a penny per mile ($14.06 total) since the event will cover a total distance of 140.6 miles (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, 26.2-mile run).
Donations can be made online at sbfoundation.org/give-now/give-to-marcies-fund/.
The Marcie Fund benefits UCSB swimming, the Alpha Resource Center, the Marcie Kjoller Red Piano Music Scholarship, and Heal the Ocean: “Four of the things she loved most,” Dawn Schroeder said.
She was Kjoller’s Gaucho teammate and close friend ever since.
Kjoller, who graduated from UCSB in 1990, was a three-time All-American and Gaucho team captain, earning induction into the Gaucho Hall of Fame in 2016. Her time of 23:40 in the 50 freestyle still ranks among the best in school history.
She coached athletes in the Moms In Motion and Momentum4Life triathlon training groups while also continuing to compete as a long-distance, open-water swimmer.
Kjoller, a mother of two daughters and the wife of Kevin Kjoller, had also been a first- and second-grade teacher for Santa Barbara Charter School.
