USC’s Max Miller Selected As 2024 Peter J. Cutino Award Finalist

📍Max is on the map!📍
He's the 13th Trojan to be named a finalist for the men's Cutino Award!#FightOn ✌️𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝙇𝘼𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘. pic.twitter.com/RgE9DT6Idv
— USC Water Polo (@USCWaterPolo) January 23, 2025

USC senior captain and two-meter man Max Miller continues to add to his 2024 list of honors with his selection as a finalist for collegiate water polo's highest honor — the Peter J. Cutino Award. After a stellar fifth and final season at USC, Miller becomes one of 13 Trojans to have been named a Cutino Award finalist on the men's side. He is in the running for this season's award alongside UCLA's Ryder Dodd and Pacific's Mihailo Vukazic. The women's finalists will be announced following the conclusion of the current 2025 women's season.

On the men's side in Cutino Award history, Miller's selection marks the 18th time a Trojan has been named a finalist for the Cutino Award. The last was the 2022 selection by Jake Ehrhardt, preceded by Nic Porter in 2021 and 2020 finalist Jacob Mercep. Prior to that, USC had two finalists in 2016 — Blake Edwards and McQuin Baron. Baron won the Cutino Award that year, claiming the sixth trophy for USC 's men. In all, USC's past male Cutino Award winners are: Juraj Zatovic (2005), J.W. Krumpholz (2008 & 2009), Joel Dennerley (2011), Kostas Genidounias (2014) and McQuin Baron (2016).

Recently named to the All-America First Team for the second straight year, Miller helped lead USC to its third straight MPSF Tournament championship for a 20th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. There, Miller picked up NCAA All-Tournament Team honors after USC's run to the NCAA final. He scored 54 goals for the Trojans in 2024 to top off his USC career ranked No. 16 all-time in career scoring with 147 goals. He scored in 27 of USC's 29 games on the year, with 15 multiple-goal outings. A force to reckon with at set, Miller drew a whopping 56 exclusions in his final season at Troy.

Miller scored in USC's final nine games of the year, with six goals scored at the MPSF Tournament and seven in NCAA action. During this past season, Miller was named to the Cutino Award Watch List and also earned himself All-MPSF First Team and MPSF Player of the Week accolades.

Established in 1999, the award is given annually in honor of the late Peter J. Cutino, the former University of California Berkeley and The Olympic Club coach, who passed away in September 2004. Mr. Cutino is in the U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame. He won "Water Polo Coach of the Year" 17 times. He led UC Berkeley to eight NCAA National Championships. In his career, Cutino also coached in the Pan American Games, the Water Polo World Championships and the World University Games.

The Cutino Awards will take place on the evening of Saturday, June 7 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. The ceremony will be live-streamed free of charge courtesy of USA Water Polo on overnght.com. The broadcast will feature interviews with finalists, athletes and coaches, plus the Cutino Award ceremony in its entirety.

Established in 1999 by The Olympic Club, the Cutino Award is given annually to the top men's and women's NCAA Division I water polo players as voted on by coaches from across the country. The namesake of the award is a legend in United States water polo history, with eight NCAA titles as head coach at Cal. The Olympic Club has a long and distinguished competitive water polo history, a tradition that continues today in the pool with some of the best age-group teams in the world.

ABOUT THE OLYMPIC CLUB
Founded in 1860, The Olympic Club enjoys the distinction of being among the oldest athletic clubs in America. Since its birth, The Olympic Club has fostered amateur athletics in San Francisco. The Winged "O" currently fields teams in 17 sports. Additionally, The Olympic Club has hosted five U.S. Opens, and looks forward to hosting the 2028 PGA Championship and 2032 Ryder Cup at its world-class Lakeside Clubhouse golf courses.

USC Cutino Award Men's Finalists
2004    Juraj Zatovic
2005   Juraj Zatovic$
2006    Juan Delgadillo
2007    Adam Shilling
2008    J.W. Krumpholz$
2009    J.W. Krumpholz$
2010    Joel Dennerley
2011    Joel Dennerley$
2012    Nikola Vavic
2013    Nikola Vavic
Kostas Genidounias
2014    Kostas Genidounias$
2016    McQuin Baron$
   Blake Edwards
2020    Jacob Mercep
2021    Nic Porter
2022    Jake Ehrhardt
2024   Max Miller

$ - Peter J. Cutino Award winner

All-time Peter J. Cutino Award winners:
1998-99 - Bernice Orwig (USC)
1999-2000 - Sean Kern (UCLA) & Aniko Pelle (USC)
2000-01 - Sean Kern (UCLA) & Coralie Simmons (UCLA)
2001-02 - Tony Azevedo (Stanford) & Brenda Villa (Stanford)
2002-03 - Tony Azevedo (Stanford) & Jackie Frank (Stanford)
2003-04 - Tony Azevedo (Stanford) & Moriah Van Norman (USC)
2004-05 - Tony Azevedo (Stanford) & Natalie Golda (UCLA)
2005-06 - Juraj Zatovic (USC) & Lauren Wenger (USC)
2006-07 - John Mann (Cal) & Kelly Rulon (UCLA)
2007-08 - Tim Hutten (UC Irvine) & Courtney Mathewson (UCLA)
2008-09 - J.W. Krumpholz (USC) & Kami Craig (USC)
2009-10 - J.W. Krumpholz (USC) & Kami Craig (USC)
2010-11 - Ivan Rackov (California) & Annika Dries (Stanford)
2011-12 - Joel Dennerley (USC) & Kiley Neushel (Stanford)
2012-13 - Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific) & Melissa Seidemann (Stanford)
2013-14 - Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific) & Annika Dries (Stanford)
2014-15 - Kostas Genidounias (USC) & Kiley Neushel (Stanford)
2015-16 - Garrett Danner (UCLA) & Stephania Haralabidis (USC)
2016-17 - McQuin Baron (USC) & Ashleigh Johnson (Princeton)
2017-18 - Luca Cupido (Cal) & Amanda Longan (USC)
2018-19 - Ben Hallock (Stanford) & Makenzie Fischer (Stanford)
2019-20 - Ben Hallock (Stanford)
2020-21 - Nicolas Saveljic (UCLA) & Maud Megens (USC)
2021-22 - Nikolaos Papanikolaou (Cal) & Makenzie Fischer (Stanford)
2022-23 - Nikolaos Papanikolaou (Cal) & Aria Fischer (Stanford)
2023-24 - Nikolaos Papanikolaou (Cal) & Isabel Williams (Cal)

Players Mentioned

Max Miller