Trojans Take World Championship
August 11, 2009 | Women's Water Polo
Aug. 11, 2009
ROME, ITALY - Soon-to-be USC senior Kami Craig has helped the United States to another gold medal at the FINA World Championships. Craig was teamed up with three other Trojans as members of Team USA, with recent USC grads Brittany Hayes, Moriah Van Norman and Lauren Wenger alongside Craig on that medal stand in Rome, Italy on July 31. The four Trojans went up against two other fellow Women of Troy in the 2009 gold-medal game, as Joelle Bekhazi and Rosanna Tomiuk took home the silver medal with Canada. USC was well represented throughout the medal ceremonies in Rome, in fact, with bronze-medalist Russia still anchored by past Trojan Sofia Konoukh.
All told, there were 11 Women of Troy competing at the 2009 World Championships. Seven of those athletes came home with medals (four gold with USA; two silver for Canada; one bronze with Russia). 2008 Olympic gold-medalist and current USC goalie Ilse van der Meijden took a fifth-place finish playing for the Netherlands, and former Trojan Aniko Pelle saw a seventh-place finish with Hungary. Playing for Germany were two more former Women of Troy, with Katrin Dierolf and Nina Wengst in the water for a 10th-place finish at the 16-team World Championships.
The United States has now won World Championship gold three times in the past four such tournaments. There were no USC athletes on the USA's 2003 World Championship team, but Craig, Hayes Wenger and Van Norman all were there for the 2007 gold-medal finish - as well as the USA's 2008 Olympic silver medal effort. Now a two-time World Champion and a Cutino Award winner, the youngest of that U.S. Trojan crew returns to USC waters for her senior year this month. Canadian silver-medalist at worlds Joelle Bekhazi will also be back in the water at Troy for her junior season as a Trojan.
The United States edged Canada 7-6 in the World Championship final on July 31 in Rome. Kami Craig and Lauren Wenger both scored for the USA in that game, each finishing the tournament with eight goals apiece. Moriah Van Norman added seven while in Rome, and Brittany Hayes clocked in with nine. Two other Trojans also topped out with nine-goal efforts at the World Championships - Germany's Katrin Dierolf and Hungary's Aniko Pelle. Nina Wengst of Germany matched Wenger and Craig's total of eight goals. Russia's Sofia Konoukh finished with six goals. On Team Canada, Joelle Bekhazi scored four goals and Rosanna Tomiuk scored three.
For more information on the USA's third World Championship gold-medal finish of the decade, visit usawaterpolo.org.
