Cara Reitz

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. -- Junior Cara Reitz (Miami, Fla./Gulliver) of the University of Michigan water polo team was named an alternate for the 2009 Speedo Top 40, USA Water Polo announced earlier this week.

Reitz is one of four alternates that could receive an invitation to the three-day event which runs Oct. 23-25 at the USA Water Polo National Training Center. A total of 12 athletes were selected from the open tryouts that were held Canham Natatorium, Harvard, Dougherty Valley High School and the USA Water Polo National Training Center. Reitz made it into the final 16 from a pool of over 110 athletes that took part in the largest ever turnout for a USA Water Polo open tryout.

Reitz was selected as a team captain for her junior year. A two-time CWPA Scholar-Athlete, she has been a steady performer for the Maize and Blue with 30 goals and 17 assists in each of her first two seasons. Reitz missed six games and had to deal with a nagging hand injury throughout the 2009 postseason but still posted a career-best 40 steals.

Reitz will now await word if she will be joining teammates senior Leah Robertson (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor) and freshman Kiki Golden (Danville, Calif./Monte Vista) later this month.

In addition to the Robertson and Golden, former Michigan head coach Amber Drury (2001-02) was selected as one of the four officials to work the Speedo Top 40 competition. Drury led the program to a 45-24-1 record in its first two years of varsity competition and guided the program to its first CWPA Eastern Championship in 2002.

Release courtesy University of Michigan Athletic Communications