Anthony Artukovich Up For U.S. Junior National Team Competition

Six Trojans Set Up For U.S. Junior National Team Competition
USC players join Junior National Team for tournaments in Italy and Slovakia.

Men's Water Polo
Trojans Sweep Peter J. Cutino Awards

June 29, 2006

The USC men's water polo team has six players capping up for the U.S. Junior National Team this summer, as the squad is set for competition in Italy and Slovakia beginning this week. Sophomore Arjan Ligtenberg is joined by five incoming freshmen -- Anthony Artukovich, J.W. Krumpholz, Justin Rappel, Matt Sagehorn and Nico Sardo -- as the Trojans playing for Team USA.

The U.S. Junior National Team opens international competition June 29-July 2 at the Memorial Tournament in Italy, where teams from Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Italy and Greece will also get in on the action. Those teams may also meet up at the USA's next tournament stop in Slovakia for the High Tatras Cup from July 7-9. The U.S. squad will take the international experience garnered from this European trip to the Junior Pan American Games in August.

As a freshman on the USC team, two-meter man Arjan Ligtenberg (Los Altos Hills, Calif./Gunn HS) helped the Trojans to win the 2005 NCAA Championship and post an all-time best 26-1 overall record. He was a member of the U.S. Youth National Team last year, traveling to Slovakia for the Low Tatras Cup last summer.

The five USC freshmen on the roster are part of a stellar incoming class for the Trojans. Anthony Artukovich and Matt Sagehorn both hail from Long Beach, Calif., as graduates of Wilson High School. Both are regarded as two of the top young players entering the collegiate ranks this year. Artukovich has trained with the U.S. National Team and also has already competed as a member of the U.S. Youth and Junior teams. Sagehorn has a similar national team resume to Artukovich, and was named the CIF Southern Section Division I Player of the Year as a senior at Wilson HS. He scored nine goals for Team USA at the 2005 Junior World Championships.

Also no stranger to the U.S. National Team system is J.W. Krumpholz (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill HS), who played with the men's national team at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal, and scored 13 goals at the Junior World Championships while playing alongside future Trojan teammates Artukovich, Sagehorn and Nico Sardo (La Jolla, Calif./Bishop's School), who is making a repeat appearance on the Junior National Team roster. Left-hander Justin Rappel (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) rounds out the Trojan talent pool on this summer's U.S. Junior National Team.

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