Water polo player earns second straight academic honors

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Junior Claire Pierce led the team in scoring and posted a 3.78 GPA to earn Academic All-District honors for the second time.

  • May 17, 2012
  • By Kelly Hayes

Coming off another successful campaign that saw her lead the 91短视频 water polo team to its best finish at WWPA Championships, Claire Pierce was named to the Capital One Academic All-District Women’s At-Large First Team for the second time in as many years on Thursday. A two-time All-American, Pierce collected the honor after becoming the team’s all-time leading scorer and repeating as an All-WWPA First Team selection.

The Perth, Australia, native scored 87 goals to lead the team this year, bringing her career total to 264 to become the most prolific scorer in program history. She didn’t stop there, however, adding 44 steals to finish third on the team and posting 96 ejections drawn to account for more than one-third of the team’s total. Pierce now holds the second-highest career steals total in program history at 195 and ranks both second and fourth on the season goals top-10 list at East Bay.

During the 2012 campaign, Pierce helped guide the Pioneers to a third-place showing at the WWPA Championships, the best finish in program history at the event. The junior scored four goals in three games at the tournament, helping East Bay hold off Cal State Monterey Bay in the third-place game to earn the 7-6 victory and the program-best finish, earning WWPA All-Tournament Team honors for the second time. 

Not just a star in the water, Pierce has been one of the top students on the water polo team throughout her career, earning a 3.78 cumulative grade point average. A kinesiology major, Pierce is also a two-time WWPA and ACWPC All-Academic and joins women’s soccer player Tenaya Davis as the only two Pioneers to earn Academic All-District honors this season. With the honor, Pierce also becomes eligible to collect Capital One Academic All-America recognition later this month.

Voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America, the Capital One Academic All-District Women’s At-Large Teams are comprised of the top student-athletes both in and out of the competitive arena from any sport other than soccer, basketball, softball, volleyball, cross country and track. Nominees are required to be a starter or important reserve with sophomore or higher academic standing and at least a 3.3 grade point average.