BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Harvard University’s Jack Burghardt (Jr., Manhattan Beach, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) and Ted Minnis are honored with Most Valuable Player and Coach of the Year status, while Princeton University’s Taylor Bell (Fr., Tustin, Calif./JSerra Catholic) claims Rookie of the Year recognition as the 2025 Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) All-Conference Team is released by the league office derived from voting/selections by the organization’s six head coaches.
A total of 23 athletes are recognized with seven First Team, eight Second Team and eight Honorable Mention selections accompanying the three major awards.
Field athlete selections are based on a slotting system approved by the league Governance Council. Goalkeepers and the three individual awards (Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year) are determined by a vote of the six head coaches based on nominations from each institution.
Minnis garners his fifth men’s Coach of the Year nod – and third in the NWPC – as the 2013 and 2025 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Northern Division COY picked up solo honors in 2019 prior to sharing the accolade with Princeton University head coach Dustin Litvak in 2023. The award snaps a four-year run by Litvak who shared the 2023 honor with Minnis and took home the 2021, 2022 and 2024 laurels. Further, the award is the sixth presented to Harvard men’s coach as Jim Floerchinger received a nod as the 2000 CWPA Northern Division Coach of the Year, while Minnis racks up his eighth overall COY accolade with CWPA Women’s Coach of the Year distinction in 2015, 2022 and 2024.
Bell becomes the sixth Princeton men’s water polo athlete to rack up Rookie of the Year recognition since 1997 by joining Roko Pozaric (2021 – NWPC), Sean Duncan (2016 – NWPC), Jovan Jeremic (2013 – CWPA Southern Division), Kurt Buchbinder (2010 – CWPA Southern Division) and Reid Joseph (2008 – CWPA).
A 2024 Second Team and 2025 First Team All-Conference selection, Burghardt becomes the fifth Harvard men’s water polo athlete since 1997 to earn Most Valuable Player honors joining Alex Tsotadze (2011 – NWPC), Charlie Owens (2019 – NWPC), Austin Sechrest (2018 – NWPC) and Joey Colton (2010 – CWPA Northern Division).
Burghardt is joined on the All-NWPC Conference First Team by teammate Lukas Peabody (So., San Diego, Calif./The Bishop’s School) in recognition of the duo leading the Crimson to co-regular season championship honors with Princeton.
Princeton leads the way on the First Team with three selections as 2023 Second Team/2024 First Team goalkeeper Kristof Kovacs (Jr., Hodmezovasarhely, Hungary/Bethlen Gabor Reformed), 2024 Second Team pick Gavin Appeldorn (So., Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor) and Logan McCarroll (Sr., Laguna Beach, Calif./Mater Dei) comprise three/sevenths of the top athletes in the conference.
2023 NWPC Rookie of the Year/2023 Second Team selection Jaxson Tierney (Jr., Sierra Madre, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) of Brown University and Pavle Musikic (So., Belgrade, Serbia/Sportska Gimnazija) of Iona University complete the First Team.
The Second Team features athletes from five teams as 2024 Second Team goalkeeper Dimitrios Kratimenos (So., Athens, Greece/Costeas Geitonas School) of Brown is joined by teammate Dominik Balla (So., Szolnok, Hungary/Varga Katalin Gimnazium), while Princeton’s Adam Peocz (So., Budapest, Hungary/Moricz Zsigmond Gimnazium) and Bell accompany Tyler Hogan (So., Atherton, Calif./Sacred Heart Preparatory) and 2024 First Team pick Dean Strauser (So., Calabasas, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) of Harvard. 2024 First Team honoree Rastko Jevdjovic (Sr., Belgrade, Serbia/Third Belgrade Grammar School) of Iona and 2023/2024 Second Team pick Adam Ivatorov (Sr., Rockaway, N.Y./Staten Island Technical) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) round out the Second Team.
On the Honorable Mention squad, each institution in the NWPC picked up at least one athlete with 2024 Honorable Mention goalkeeper Tanner Furtak (Sr, San Diego, Calif./Patrick Henry) and 2024 Honorable Mention recipient Jacob Tsotadze (Jr., Menlo Park, Calif/Sacred Heart Preparatory) from Harvard being joined by fellow 2024 Honorable Mention awardee Mac Berry (Jr., San Anselmo, Calif./Archie Williams) of Brown. Goalkeeper Manuel Diez Teran (Gr., Madrid, Spain/I.E.S. Ortega y Gasset) and field player Jack French (So., Brisbane, Australia/St. Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace) of Long Island University, Iona’s Matthew Mischlich (Sr., Houston, Texas/Strake Jesuit College Prep), Caspar Lightner (Fr., San Diego, Calif./The Bishop’s School) of MIT and JP Ohl (Sr., Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick School) from Princeton conclude the 2025 NWPC All-Conference list.
Loading...
Reload document 
Open in new tab 