Houston athletic director Eddie Nunez during the introductory press conference, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Houston, Texas.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House v. NCAA settlement Friday night, allowing universities to pay current players directly starting July 1. Schools can share up to $20.5 million of their revenues with players during the upcoming academic year.

The quick turnaround poses challenges for athletic directors nationwide, but Houston’s Eddie Nuñez remains fully committed. 

“We’ve kinda spoken about this throughout the year, so yes, we will be fully supporting our student athletes at the full amount of the $20.5 million,” he told reporters in May. “We’re all in. We’re gonna do this the right way.”

Nuñez and his staff have been working to increase Houston’s revenue since he took over as athletic director in August 2024, a critical task given that the Cougars operate with the lowest budget among Power Four schools. Now, with the implementation of direct revenue sharing, things just got a bit more complicated.

 “We looked at the percentages from before I got here, from our time in the American, about what sports generated what percentage of the revenue. Then we added what we’ve gathered from our first year in the Big 12. We combined that with our own internal budget and data: which sports bring in revenue through ticket sales, media rights and other sources,” Nuñez told The Cougar in January.  

Now the question remains: Will that mean every single student-athlete or every team?

“There are some sports, honestly, that don’t bring in any revenue. But even with that in mind, we’re committed and both the Chancellor and I have said this to try to do something for every team,” he said. “I want to distribute what we can as broadly as possible, while understanding that sports like football and men’s basketball will likely be higher, because of their role in media and TV revenue, and that’s okay. We need football to be extremely successful, because when football is strong, it helps elevate every other program.”

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The 26^th Annual Peter J. Cutino Awards—college water polo’s highest individual honor will be presented on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.
Named for legendary coach Peter J. Cutino, the award recognizes the top male and female NCAA Division I water polo players each season.

The ceremony will be live‑streamed free on Overnght.com, featuring red‑carpet interviews, finalist features, and the full awards presentation.

2025 Men’s Finalists

• Ryder Dodd (UCLA) – Set the MPSF single‑season scoring record with 102 goals, led Bruins to a national title, and earned NCAA Tournament MVP honors
• Max Miller (USC) – Two‑time First‑Team All‑American; 54 goals this year and 147 career goals, 16^th all‑time for the Trojans
• Mihailo Vukazic (Pacific) – 2024 West Coast Conference Player of the Year; 63 goals in 20 games and a First‑Team All‑American selection

 2025 Women’s Finalists

• Emily Ausmus (USC) – MPSF Newcomer of the Year; USC single‑season record 114 goals, plus 55 assists and 46 steals
• Tilly Kearns (USC) – Redshirt senior with 100 goals this season; finishes USC career third all‑time with 262 goals
• Ryann Neushul (Stanford) – MPSF Player of the Year; 60 goals and the only four‑time NCAA champion in Stanford history

Event Details

• Date: Saturday, June 7, 2025
• Venue: The Olympic Club – San Francisco, CA
• Broadcast: Live on Overnght.com

For more on the finalists, check out Swimming World’s Water Polo coverage from this year’s NCAA Championships.

First presented in 1999, the Cutino Award is determined by votes from NCAA coaches nationwide and honors athletes who exemplify skill, sportsmanship, and leadership.
Winners receive a handcrafted walnut‑and‑brass trophy, while the perpetual trophy remains on display at The Olympic Club.

Stay tuned to Swimming World’s Water Polo hub for live coverage, post‑event interviews, and full reaction once the 2025 Cutino Award winners are revealed.

Past winners:

Alexis Brown, the fastest DII Woman in history, has been named the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Track Athlete of the Year. Coaches Paris Vaughan and Kayonna Lewis also took home region honors, as Vaughan was named Southeast Region Women’s Track & Field Coach of the Year and Lewis was named the Assistant Coach of the Year.

Brown proved herself as the fastest DII Woman of all-time at this year’s NCAA DII National Championships, winning the 100 and 200 meters in record breaking fashion. The junior from Mableton, Georgia, became the first DII woman to ever break 11 seconds in the 100 with a time of 10.93 (+1.8) in the final. She came back just over an hour later with a time of 22.37 (+3.7) in the 200 final. Her time of 22.35 (+1.8) in the 200 meter prelims set yet another DII record in that event. In total, Brown has the 10 fastest times in DII history in the 100 meters, including five this year. She also has three of the top-five 200 meter times, all ran this year.

Vaughan helped lead the Bears to a 12th-place team finish at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships, led by 100/200 champ Brown, who set DII records in both events. Lenoir-Rhyne also was team runner-up at the SAC Championships, winning five events. Lewis coached the Brown to a 100/200 double victory at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships, setting DII records in both events. She also guided Lenoir-Rhyne’s 4×100 relay team to First-Team All-America honors.

{Information provided by Lenoir-Rhyne Athletics}

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It all started at Sierra Vista Pool. That’s where then nine-year-old Atticus Bowman took the plunge and started playing water polo in the city of Albuquerque’s Metro Aquatic League. “They really taught me how to swim, they taught me how to play water polo and really get the basics down,” said Bowman.

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The league teaches kids from ages five to 14 to swim, dive, or play water polo competitively.

Bowman showing great promise early on, “He’s always been a pretty talented player. Very, very smart student of the game, and he knows where to be, when to be, and how to support the team,” recalled former coach and Aquatics Division Manager for the city Kent Vigil, former coach and Aquatics Division Manager for the City of Albuquerque.

At age 11, Bowman was recruited to play water polo at the more advanced club level.

Vigil told KRQE News 13 that the league is not just about swimming, but also learning valuable life skills, “These programs are also a great opportunity for the kids to get out of the house, meet some friends, get some really good exercise, and learn maybe something that will become a new passion for them.”

For Bowman, water polo became a way of life. His athletic abilities helped him further his education. “I got recruited to go play water polo at Penn State, and I couldn’t have been there without the Metro League. I wouldn’t have had a good starting point. I wouldn’t have had as much fun going into the sport.”

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A year into playing water polo at the collegiate level, Bowman is back at the pool he started at encouraging other local kids to dive in, “I think it’s a great way to really build skills, build character, make great friends. Overall, it gives you work ethic, drive, discipline to be better and better every day,” emphasized Bowman.

In the future, Bowman hopes to compete at the national level, “But first, I’m going to start by finishing out college.”

The program starts on Monday, June 9. Click here to learn more.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 – Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.

LA JOLLA, Calif. — UC San Diego men’s water polo standout Landon Akerstrom has been selected to the 2025 USA Water Polo Junior National Team.

Akerstrom will be heading to Zagreb, Croatia, later this month to represent the United States at the World Aquatics Men’s Junior (U20) Championships.

Akerstrom joins 14 other of the top up and coming athletes from around the country into action starting on June 14. Team USA was drawn into Group A and will meet Croatia, Hungary, and Montenegro in group play. A champion will be crowned on June 21.

Live streaming and statistics information is forthcoming. 

As a sophomore attacker  in 2024, Akerstrom was a force in the pool for the Tritons. He led the team in points (76), goals (59), shots (116), and field blocks (5) and was second on the roster in steals (26) and sprint wins (25). Akerstrom scored at least one goal in 22 of 27 games played and registered multiple goals in 17 contests. He compiled a 17-game scoring streak during the season.

For his efforts, Akerstrom was named ACWPC All-America Honorable Mention as well as All-Big West First Team.

2025 Men’s Junior National Team (Hometown/School/Club)

1. Charles Mills (Tiburon, CA/USC/San Francisco Water Polo)

2. Baxter Chelsom (Los Angeles, CA/UC Davis/Los Angeles Premier)

3. Peter Castillo (Costa Mesa, CA/UCLA/Newport Beach WPC)

4. William Schneider (San Clemente, CA/Stanford/Mission WPC)

5. Jonathan Carcarey (Santa Maria, CA/Pepperdine/SOCAL)

6. Gavin Appeldorn (Newport Beach, CA/Princeton/Newport Beach WPC)

7. Ryder Dodd (Long Beach, CA/UCLA/Mission WPC)

8. Ryan Ohl (Greenwich, CT/Stanford/Greenwich Aquatics)

9. Landon Akerstrom (Costa Mesa, CA/UC San Diego/SOCAL)

10. Connor Ohl (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS/Newport Beach WPC)

11. Benjamin Liechty (Newport Beach, CA/UCLA/Newport Beach WPC)

12. Bode Brinkema (San Juan Capistrano, CA/UCLA/Mission WPC)

13. Kiefer Black (San Diego, CA/Naval Academy/La Jolla United)

14. Max Zelikov (Boca Raton, FL/Stanford/South Florida WPC)

15. Corbin Stanley (Yorba Linda, CA/Long Beach State/SOCAL)

Staff

Jack Kocur – Head Coach        

Felix Mercado – Assistant Coach      

Alex Rodriguez – Assistant Coach

Derek Clappis – Assistant Coach

2025 World Aquatics Men’s Junior World Championships Schedule (subject to change)

All times Pacific

• June 14 – USA at Croatia, 10am 

• June 15 – USA vs Hungary, 11:30am

•June 16 – USA vs Montenegro, 8:30am

• June 17 – TBD

• June 18 – TBD

• June 19 – TBD

• June 20 – TBD

• June 21 – TBD

 

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world’s preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.