{"id":573947,"date":"2023-12-03T23:52:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T06:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=573947"},"modified":"2023-12-03T23:52:23","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T06:52:23","slug":"cal-completes-third-three-peat-for-17th-ncaa-mens-water-polo-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/cal-completes-third-three-peat-for-17th-ncaa-mens-water-polo-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Cal Completes Third Three-Peat for 17th NCAA Men\u2019s Water Polo Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cal Completes Third Three-Peat for 17th NCAA Men\u2019s Water Polo Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

The University of California rode another stirring performance from Nikolaos Papanikolaou<\/strong> to claim the school\u2019s third straight NCAA Men\u2019s water polo title Sunday, a 13-11 decision over UCLA.<\/p>\n

Papanikolaou was named the NCAA Championship MVP for the third straight year at Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles. It\u2019s the third time that Cal was won the national title three times in a row, joining 1973-75 under Pete Cutino<\/strong> and 1990-02 under Steve Heaston. Kirk Everist<\/strong> gets to add his name to the list, with his sixth national title as a coach to go with two as a player.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty nice. You don’t accomplish something like this without incredible players,” Everist said in a university release<\/a>. “It takes a lot more than just great players to do this time and time again though. I’m just grateful to have been around these guys.”<\/p>\n