DP Alum Kiley Neushul will be inducted into USA Water Polo Hall of Fame
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - USA Water Polo is proud to announce the 40th induction class for the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame. This year's class once again showcases the best in water polo from Olympic legends to generational coaching talents at the club and high school levels.
Kiley Neushul, an Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion is joined by her former Team USA coach, Chris Oeding. Oeding is a two-time Olympian and World Cup gold medalist who captained the 2000 US Olympic team in Sydney. Other coaching icons include Doug Peabody who has won more than 65 championships combined with club powerhouse San Diego Shores and high school juggernaut, The Bishops School. Ken Smith has spent the last 50 years amassing more than 600 wins at the Punahou School, cementing the program's reputation as the best to ever play the sport in Hawaii.
Join us on June 7 at 11 a.m. pacific time for the Hall of Fame Induction luncheon at the Doubletree by Hilton Claremont in Claremont, California.
As a young girl, expectations were unbelievably high for Kiley Neushul. At age 12, the Santa Barbara native was already carving up defenses against women in their 20s. She seemed destined to win high school state championships, NCAA titles, Olympic medals, and more. And she did. In fact, as a tactician with precision on both offense and defense, she spent the next 10 years amassing every honor a water polo player could want – sometimes twice.
When Neushul anchored Dos Pueblos High School teams to win four straight CIF titles in the late 2000s, she was named section player of the year each year. On the club scene, Neushul's Santa Barbara Water Polo Club (now Santa Barbara 805) won five Junior Olympics titles. It wasn't long before she made her debut on the world stage. In the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics, Neushul trained with the US team that eventually won gold. In 2013, she claimed a gold of her own when she helped the US win the Junior World Championship title. During all that, she was also starting her college career at Stanford, where she made a staggering impact. She helped the Cardinal win three NCAA Championship titles in four seasons and bookended her career there with two Cutino Awards (in 2012 and 2015) for being the best player in the game. The victories didn't stop there. On the senior national team, Neushul helped the US win gold at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia, and the 2016 Olympic gold in Rio. She helped the US win two more World Championship titles in 2017 and 2019.
Neushul's victories weren't only for the stars and stripes, as she also claimed one European League championship and three Spanish League titles while playing for C.N. Sabadell in Barcelona. Domestically, she also helped the New York Athletic Club win multiple titles.
Hailing from a family of water polo players including her parents, Cathy and Peter, and younger sisters Jamie (a fellow Olympic champion in 2020) and Ryann (a current Olympic hopeful), water polo and the Neushuls simply go together.
(Article courtesy of USA Water Polo)
