BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Bucknell University men’s water polo standout and 2019 Cutino Award finalist Rade Joksimovic will return to the pool deck in 2021 as the Bison All-America standout will serve as a volunteer assistant coach on the staff of Gavin Arroyo at Long Beach State University.
One of three finalists for the 2019-20 Cutino Award presented annually by the Olympic Club in San Francisco for the most outstanding player in the collegiate game, Joksimovic is arguably the best water polo player in the history of the Bison program.
As a senior in 2019 he earned Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Division I First Team All-America honors. The inaugural Bucknell water polo player to earn First Team All-America recognition, the laurel marked his fourth All-America nod after previously garnering Second Team honors in 2018, Honorable Mention in 2017 and Third Team honors in 2016. The senior joined Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame member Scott Schulte as the only multi-time All-America selection in Bucknell men’s water polo history last season, and stands alone as the only Bison to ever earn a spot on the All-America teams three times.
A four-time Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Player of the Year honoree and the 2019 MAWPC Championship Player of the Tournament, Joksimovic proved an instrumental part in helping Bucknell win the title to advance to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships for just the second time since 1985. In the Bucknell record books, Joksimovic finished his Bucknell career second in points (714), second in goals (527), fifth in assists (187), first in steals (317), and tenth in ejections drawn (124). The senior also finished his career having started the most games in Bucknell history (120).
Joksimovic compiled 139 goals in 2019 while adding 42 assists for 181 points, the sixth-most in a single season in school history. One of Joksimovic’s finest moments came in the NCAA Tournament win at No. 9 and previously undefeated Harvard University, where he scored six goals en route to helping Bucknell advance to the quarterfinal stage in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
The sole athlete named to the 2019 ACWPC First, Second or Third Team All-America teams from an institution not in the state of California, he stands as the most honored men’s water polo athlete from any institution outside the state of the California in the history of the sport as the four-time MAWPC First Team selection and MAWPC Championship All-Tournament First Team pick (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019); 2016 MAWPC Rookie of the Year, 2016 MAWPC Championship Rookie of the Tournament; 2016, 2018 and 2019 MAWPC Championship Most Valuable Player; 11-time MAWPC Player of the Week; seven-time MAWPC Rookie of the Week; and two-time MAWPC Rookie of the Week concluded his tenure among the best-of the-best in the history of NCAA water polo.
Joksimovic is not the only member of the Long Beach State staff with a connection to East Coast water polo as Assistant Coach Bret Lathrope has connections to both Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) and Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) institutions.
An assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of California-Los Angeles, in 2019, Lathrope spent the 2018 season as the head coach of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) men’s water polo team and led the Engineers to their ninth Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Eastern Championship title in his only season. The 2018 NWPC Coach of the Year and the USA Water Polo Monte Nitzkowski Distinguished National Men’s Coach of the Year, Lathrope guided the Engineers to their first-ever NWPC Tournament win (defeating Iona College, 16-11) and saw two of his student-athletes take home Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America honors.
Prior to being appointed as the head coach for MIT, Lathrope served as an assistant coach with the Engineers in 2017. From 2015-17, Lathrope was as an assistant coach with the Bucknell men’s and women’s water polo teams. Further, he previously served as an assistant coach at the University of California-Davis.
