Personal information | |
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Born | Belgrade, Serbia | November 7, 2002
Education | Princeton University |
Sport | |
Country | ![]() |
Sport | Water polo |
College team | Princeton Tigers |
Jovana Sekulic (born November 7, 2002) is a Serbian-American water polo player. She was selected as part of the United States team at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Sekulic was born on November 7, 2002, in Belgrade, Serbia. [1] [2] Her family moved to the United States in c. 2014, settling in Media, Pennsylvania. [2] [3] She played water polo in Serbia, a country in which that sport was very popular, and struggled to find a club when she moved to the U.S., later joining that country's Maverick Water Polo club. [4] Early on in the U.S., she often played against boys due to her advanced skill level, and still was successful. [4] She attended Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, where she competed in water polo, track and swimming, [5] and was a member of its Vocal Ensemble. [3] In water polo, she was selected twice to the All-Eastern first-team, was a two-time Eastern most valuable player and led her team to three Eastern championships. [5]
Sekulic was a member of the U.S. women's youth national water polo team in high school. [5] She graduated from Episcopal in 2022 and enrolled at Princeton University, where she continued her career. [5] In the 2022 season at Princeton, she played 27 games and scored 74 goals, being named the Collegiate Water Polo Association Rookie of the Year, third-team All-American, first-team All-Conference and first-team CWPA All-Tournament. [6] The following season, she played 28 games and recorded a team-leading 76 goals, being named second-team All-American, first-team CWPA All-Tournament, first-team NCAA first-team All-Tournament, first-team All-Conference and the CWPA Player of the Year. [6]
Sekulic was selected for the U.S. national team which competed at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. [4] She scored two goals at the World Aquatics Championships and also competed at the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup, scoring twice. [7] She redshirted at Princeton in 2024 to focus on international competitions. [2] She scored four goals for the U.S. at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships and later was chosen for the U.S. squad at the 2024 Summer Olympics. [2] [7]
The NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship is an annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA men's collegiate water polo. Beginning in 1969, it has been held every year except 2020, when it was postponed to March 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a limited number of NCAA water polo programs at the national level, all men's teams, whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III, are eligible to compete each year in the National Collegiate tournament. The tournament was expanded from a four-team bracket in 2013 by adding two play-in games that are contested by the bottom four seeds, effectively creating a six-team bracket with a first-round bye for the top two teams. This makes it the sport with the fewest teams reaching the NCAA tournament; this is because there are only 43 men's water polo teams between all three NCAA divisions.
The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 2001 season. Seven conferences have teams competing in women's water polo: the Big West Conference, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), the single-sport Golden Coast Conference, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). Some teams compete at Division III either as members of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or independently. Teams qualify by either winning their respective conference tournament or receiving one of the few at large bids available. Unlike most NCAA sports, only one National Collegiate championship is held each season with teams from Division I, Division II, and Division III competing together.
Brenda Villa is an American accomplished water polo player. She is the most decorated athlete in the world of women’s water polo. Villa was named Female Water Polo Player of the Decade for 2000-2009 by the FINA Aquatics World Magazine. She is one of four female players who competed in water polo at four Olympics; and one of two female athletes who won four Olympic medals in water polo. She is a leading goalscorer in Olympic water polo history, with 31 goals. In 2018, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.
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Montenegro competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's third consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics since it gained independence from Serbia in 2006.
Kiley Susan Neushul is an American water polo player and a graduate of Stanford University.
Ashleigh Elizabeth Johnson is an American water polo player of Ethnikos Piraeus team, who is considered by many to be the best goalkeeper in the world. She was part of the American national team that won the gold medal at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships. In 2016, she became the first African-American woman to make the US Olympic team in water polo. She was part of the gold-medal winning 2016 and 2020 U.S. women's water polo Olympic teams, and earned a spot on the 2024 U.S. women's water polo Olympic team. She is a 2017 graduate of Princeton University. She is 6'1" tall and her team nickname is "Ayay."
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