BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Tonight is the unofficial conclusion of the varsity collegiate water polo season as the Olympic Club in San Francisco will award the 2020 Cutino Award.
Unlike previous years, the East Coast has a representative among the three finalists for the sport’s Heisman Award equivalent as Rade Joksimovic (Sr., Novi Sad, Serbia/Gimnazija Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj) of Bucknell University will aim to top fellow nominees Ben Hallock of Stanford University and Luke Pavillard of University of the Pacific.
Arguably the best water polo player in the history of the Bison program, Joksimovic is coming off a senior season in which 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 now stands alone as the only Bison to ever earn a spot on the All-American teams three times.
A four-time Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Player of the Year honors for the fourth straight year and the 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 this season 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 goes down 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.
Not bad, right? A ton of awards, four league MVP awards, a trio of league championship MVP plaques and a pair of titles (both at home in Kinney Natatorium).
Thanks Rade for the memories and allowing the East Coast to bear witness to your play and your character. Some advice as you leave Lewisburg and collegiate water polo – start preparing some words for a Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame induction down the road (maybe in Lewisburg – you did some of your best work there).
