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Harvard University Recognizes 2009 Men's Water Polo Award Recipients
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--
The Harvard University men’s water polo team handed out its
team awards recently. The team presented five awards at a small
gathering. Earlier in the year, Bret Voith (Jr., Coral
Gables, Fla./Gulliver Preparatory) and Luka Babic
(So., Belgrade, Serbia/10th Belgrade Grammar School) were
named captains for the 2010 season.
The Most Valuable Player award was given to senior co-captain
Egen Atkinson (Honolulu, Hawaii/Iolani School).
Atkinson was second on the Crimson with 28 goals. He was named the
CWPA Northern Division Player of the Week on October 6 and
registered 10 multiple goal games during the season.
The team introduced a new award, the Peter Hursh ’74
Memorial Award. The award is presented annually to the Harvard
water polo senior who embodies the spirit and tenacity of Peter
Hursh ’74. The inaugural recipient was Atkinson.
The recipient of the Most Improved Player award was sophomore
Kevin DiSilvestro (Philadelphia, Pa./Episcopal
Academy). He netted 19 goals on the year in his second
season with the Crimson. DiSilvestro notched a goal last
season against Brown at the Eastern College Athletic Conference
(ECAC) Championship.
Freshman Max Eliot (Studio City, Calif./Harvard-Westlake
School) was tabbed the Rookie of the Year. Eliot ranked
fourth on the team with 24 tallies. He was named the CWPA Northern
Division Rookie of the Week three times in the fall. He notched his
first collegiate score against the University of Redlands at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Invitational. Eliot
buried two or more goals in seven games this season.
The Coach’s Award was presented to senior Nikhil
Balaraman (Encinitas, Calif./The Bishop's School).
Balaraman played in 13 games at goalie for Harvard and accrued 116
saves on the year. The senior turned in a career-high 13-save
performance against No. 11 Princeton at the Princeton Invitational.
Release courtesy Harvard Athletic Communications
