| Personal information | ||||||||||||
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| Born | August 20, 1987 San Diego, California, United States | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Water polo | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Tanya Gandy (born August 20, 1987) played water polo for UCLA on four of the five-consecutive NCAA National Champion Women's Water Polo teams and was named to the All-Tournament first team. She attended Rancho Bernardo High School. [1]
In June 2009, Gandy was named to the USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team for the 2009 FINA World Championships. [2]
Gandy, who wears #10 cap, is an attacker on the UCLA team. She and her senior teammates have never lost a championship tournament match. In her senior year, Gandy scored 79 goals, the highest single-season goal total in program history (eclipsing Coralie Simmons' 74-goal total from 1998). She scored 5 goals against San Jose State on March 14, 2009.
During the 2008 season, Gandy had 47 goals and 40 assists.
Gandy earned NCAA Tournament most valuable player honor when she scored three goals in the 2009 tournament game against USC. She is one of three finalist for the female Peter J. Cutino Award, the highest honor for a college water polo player.
She was also named NCAA Division I Player of the Year and first-team All-America accolades by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) in 2009. [3]
In high school, she was All-CIF and All-League Player of the Year.
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.
Coralie Denise Simmons is an American water polo player, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In 2001, she won the Peter J. Cutino Award, presented annually to the top American collegiate water polo player. Simmons is currently in her third season as the women's water polo coach at the University of California, Berkeley, after nine seasons as the head coach at Sonoma State University. She was born in Hemet, California.
Natalie Golda is a former American water polo player and currently the head coach of the newly formed Fresno State Bulldogs water polo team to begin competition in 2018. Considered one of the greatest women's water polo players of all time, her senior leadership helped guide the 2005 UCLA Bruins to their seventh national championship. In May 2005 Golda received the Peter J. Cutino Award, given to the best player in women's collegiate water polo. She was also a member of the US Water Polo Team that won the bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2015, she was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.
Jacqueline "Jackie" Frank DeLuca Cochran is an American water polo goalkeeper, 2004 bronze medal Olympian and two-time collegiate National Player of the Year.
Margaret "Margie" Dingeldein is an American water polo player who won a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Her position is attacker, and she is considered an excellent perimeter shooter.
Moriah van Norman is an American water polo player who has played for the University of Southern California and the National team, who won the Peter J. Cutino Award in 2004, recognized as the best female collegiate player in the nation. Her position is two-meter offense.
Kelly Kristen Rulon is an American water polo player. She won a gold medal with the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the water polo competition. She is also a bronze medalist from the 2004 Summer Olympics. Her position is driver.
Thalia Janina Ormbsy (Munro) (born March 8, 1982, in Santa Barbara, California) is an American water polo player for the UCLA Bruins and the US National Team, who won the bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Her position is utility/driver. She now is a 6th grade teacher.
Adam Krikorian is an American water polo coach and the head coach of the United States women's national water polo team. He coached the team to gold medals at the 2012 Olympic Games, 2016 Olympic Games, and 2020 Olympic Games. He was named the United States Olympic Committee's Coach of the Games for 2016. He won 15 NCAA national championships as player, assistant coach, and head coach at UCLA.
Courtney Lynn Kaiulani Mathewson is an American water polo player, part of the US team that won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics. She played water polo for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins during their four-consecutive NCAA National Champion Women's Water Polo championships, and was named to the All-Tournament first team. At UCLA, she majored in sociology.
Brandon Brooks, who played water polo as a goalie for UCLA and the 2004 and 2008 United States National teams, was the head coach of the women's water polo team at UCLA until 2017. The women's team won the 2008 and 2009 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship, and one of his players, Courtney Mathewson, captured the Peter J. Cutino Award as the player-of-the year in 2008.
Jillian Amaris Kraus is a water polo player. She won a gold medal in the 2005 Junior World Championships, won four straight NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships with UCLA, and has played with the United States women's national water polo team.
Elsie Ann Windes is an American water polo player. After playing for the University of California, she joined the United States national team in 2006. She helped the U.S. win a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Kameryn Louise "Kami" Craig is an American water polo player. She was a member of the US water polo team that won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a gold medal in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.
Adam Wright is an American water polo player and a college water polo head coach. He was a member of the United States men's national water polo team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the championship game, the USA team won the silver medal, defeated by Hungary.
Margaret Ann Steffens is an American professional water polo player. She won the gold medal with the United States at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Steffens set a new Olympic record for the most goals scored by an individual player in women's water polo at the Olympic Games.
Annika Madsen Dries is an American water polo player. She won the national championship with Stanford University in 2011, and went on to win the gold medal with the United States in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She stands at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall.
Anna Espar Llaquet is a Spanish water polo player who won the gold medal at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona. She also won the silver medal at the 2012 and 2020 Summer Olympics.
Madeline Musselman is an American water polo player. Maddie was named Woman's water polo MVP after her USA Team won gold in Tokyo at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She was one of the highest leading scorers with 18 goals. It is the fourth time in her career that she has been named the MVP of a major international tournament as she was named the MVP of the FINA World League Super Final in 2019 and again in 2021. She was also named the MVP of the FINA World Championships in 2017 where Team USA won gold; scored 16 goals in six games, including hat trick in 13–6 final-round win over Spain. Additionally, the four-time First-Team All-American, at UCLA, was also named the 2021 and 2022 Women's Total Player of the Year by (Total Waterpolo).
