Jan. 2, 2008

2008 Men's Water Polo All-Americans

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Senior Tommy Kelly was named All-American Honorable Mention for his play this season, giving Santa Clara back to back All Americans, as Jack Wall received similar honors last year. Kelly was named to the 1st Team All-WWPA this year as well for his role as one of the top two-meter defenders in the conference and now in the nation.

Kelly was the primary two-meter defender on a Broncos team that considered defense to be the strength of their team, something that gets overlooked sometimes in statistics. If you're looking for statistics, try this on for size: in the two-meter defender role, most players will receive one or two kickout penalties a game. In the 30 games that Kelly has started and played the majority of, he had only 15 kickouts, a remarkable achievement according to head coach Keith Wilbur.

"Not only was he a great defender, but he ended up being our fourth leading goal scorer as well as a senior captain on the team," said Wilbur. "He's a hard worker, a serious competitor and his teammates respect him."

Kelly joined the team as a freshman walk-on. He has improved dramatically each year and finished his career at Santa Clara as a scholarship player. Kelly helped Santa Clara to a 17-13 record this season, a fourth place finish in the WWPA, and a No. 15 national ranking.

"Tommy has a great work ethic and a commitment to the team," said Wilbur. "He's a fun guy, but he could be serious when he needed to. This is great recognition for him."