Home|Sports|Miller, Johnson see action in collegiate water poloSports
Simba FrenchSend an emailOctober 26, 2022 105 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
It was a busy weekend for Bahamian collegiate water polo players Saequan Miller and Aidan Johnson, as they were in action for their schools in separate regional championships.
Miller and the Salem University Tigers won the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Championship, by remaining undefeated in their three games at the Hallman Aquatics Center in Erie, Pennsylvania. The tournament began on Saturday and wrapped up on Sunday.
Johnson and the Washington & Jefferson University Presidents were in action in the Division III Eastern Championships, at the David Hallman III Aquatics Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.
The Tigers’ final game on Sunday saw them taking on Gannon University, which was their toughest matchup during the weekend. They won that game in dramatic fashion, 13-12. Gannon led 10-9 heading into the fourth quarter. A resilient Tigers squad powered their way to outscore Gannon 6-4 in the final period, to lift the championship trophy for the first time since 2004.
The first match saw the Tigers winning 17-15 against McKendree University. The Tigers were down 8-7 at the half before storming back in the second half to start the weekend off on the right note. The second game saw the Tigers playing Mercyhurst University. They clobbered Mercyhurst 23-6.
The three wins give the Tigers a 12-11 win/loss record on the season and 3-4 in conference play. They will look to improve their season record when they have a weekend clash against McKendree, Gannon and Mercyhurst on November 5-6 in Lebanon, Illinois.
Johnson and the Presidents went 2-1 on the weekend. They took down Connecticut College 18-6 in their final game on Sunday. They were up 5-2 at the end of the first half and went on to score 13 points in that period to win 18-6.
In the game before that on Sunday, they took down host school Penn State University Behrend 14-6. They were dominant in that game, taking a 12-4 lead after the third period.
Saturday saw the Presidents suffering their only loss of the weekend to Austin College. The Presidents lost 13-6 in that game.
The Presidents are now 9-6 overall on the season and return to action on November 18-19 at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships in Los Angeles, California.
With Miller and Johnson not playing this weekend, Bahamian Nicholas Wallace-Whitfield and his Mount St. Mary’s University Mountaineers will have a three-game slate at three different locations this weekend. They will take on Wagner College, Fordham University and George Washington University.