Class of the Conference

STANFORD, Calif. – Six Stanford men’s water polo players were named All-MPSF when the conference announced its postseason awards on Tuesday morning. The Cardinal’s six honorees are its most since 2007.

Alex Bowen and Bret Bonanni earned All-MPSF First Team status, BJ Churnside and Drew Holland were selected to the All-MPSF Second Team and Conner Cleary and Nick Hoversten landed on the All-MPSF Honorable Mention squad.

The sextet will be in action along with the rest of the Cardinal (25-3) next Saturday at the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship in La Jolla, Calif. Stanford, the No. 2 seed, awaits the winner of No. 3 seed USC and No. 6 seed Whittier. Those two will meet in a play-in game at Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles this Saturday, Nov. 29 at 10 a.m.

Bowen, who was named MPSF/Kap7 Tournament MVP for his performance in leading the Cardinal to its first MPSF title since 2004 this past weekend, earned his fourth consecutive nod on the conference’s first team. He has 10 hat tricks on the year and 57 goals (2.04 GPG), ranking ninth in the MPSF heading to the NCAA Tournament. The senior’s 245 career goals are third all-time in Stanford history and among the MPSF’s 10 best as well.

Bonanni returned to the All-MPSF First Team in this his junior year after placing on the second team in 2013. In 2012 he was also MPSF Newcomer of the Year in addition to landing on the league’s first team. The science, technology and society major is second in the conference with 85 goals (3.04 GPG). His 255 lifetime scores are second in Stanford history and fifth in MPSF history.

One of six finalists for the FINA Men’s Water Polo Athlete of the Year and the only American on the ballot, Bonanni is one of only five Stanford players to ever score 80 or more goals in a season and has now done it twice. Tony Azevedo is the only other Cardinal to hit the mark multiple times.

BJ Churnside secured his third consecutive All-MPSF honor after being named honorable mention the past two seasons. The junior second teamer is fourth on the Cardinal with 41 goals and his 117 career scores put him alongside Bowen and Bonnani as active Cardinal in triple digits.

In a back-and-forth affair that saw six ties and four lead changes in the MPSF Championship on Sunday, it was BJ Churnside’s two fourth-quarter goals that put Stanford over the top against Long Beach State. Trailing 8-7 with 4:15 to go, Churnside put home an exclusion goal with 3:45 on the clock to bring this level for the final time and clinched the title when he rattled the cage with just 15 ticks to go.

He was joined on the second team by sophomore goalkeeper Drew Holland, who was tabbed All-MPSF for the first time. A two-time MPSF/Kap7 Player of the Week selection this season, Holland is second in the league in goals-against average (6.39) and has made 244 saves, including 39 in the recently concluded MPSF Tournament.

Rounding out Stanford’s selections were seniors Conner Cleary and Nick Hoversten, who each earned their first All-MPSF nods with honorable mention selections. Hoversten, a center defender, is tied for seventh on the squad with 23 goals, the highest total of his career. The center Cleary has scored eight times in 2014. He graduated this past June with a degree in History and the Law and is currently pursuing his master’s in sociology with an emphasis on healthcare.