USC’s Tilly Kearns Earns CSC Academic All-America At-Large Second Team Accolades
July 08, 2025 | Women's Water Polo
She is the second USC women’s water polo player to earn a spot on an Academic All-America Team.
An Olympic medalist and highly decorated Trojan, USC women's water polo's Tilly Kearns has collected a significant academic honor to add to her lengthy list of accolades with her selection to the 2024-25 CSC Academic All-America Women's At-Large Second Team, as announced today by College Sports Communicators (CSC).
Kearns wrapped her USC career as the Trojans' No. 3 scorer in program history and as a three-time First Team All-American. She joins fellow Olympian Flora Bolonyai as the only other USC women's water polo player to be named to an Academic All-America Team, with Bolonyai earning First Team honors in 2013.
A three-time First Team All-American, Kearns was selected for USC's Trojaneer Diamond Award, given to a graduating student-athlete who has brought the most fame and distinction to the university. Dedicated to numerous community outreach projects and extracurricular activities, the Australia native also helped her USC teams reach the NCAA final in all four seasons in which she competed. Since arriving as a freshman at USC in 2018-19, Kearns took some time away from USC in order to train with her Australian National Team in preparation for and in competition at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games. In 2024, Kearns was instrumental in the Aussies' Olympic silver medal before returning to her final season at USC, where she served as a team captain.
A three-time finalist for the prestigious Peter J. Cutino Award, Kearns also is a four-time ACWPC All-Academic honoree and a three-time MPSF Scholar-Athlete to go along with this season's All-Big Ten Academic honor. Kearns was joined on the 2025 CSC Academic All-District Team by teammate Isabel Zimmerman before being voted to the CSC Academic All-America Second Team
For this year's CSC Academic All-America Women's At-Large Team selections, a total of 46 student-athletes were recognized at the Division I level across many sports: beach volleyball, bowling fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rifle, rowing, skiing and water polo. Sixteen student-athletes were named to the First Team, with 20 on the Second Team and 10 on the Third Team.
Kearns wrapped her USC career as the Trojans' No. 3 scorer in program history and as a three-time First Team All-American. She joins fellow Olympian Flora Bolonyai as the only other USC women's water polo player to be named to an Academic All-America Team, with Bolonyai earning First Team honors in 2013.
A three-time First Team All-American, Kearns was selected for USC's Trojaneer Diamond Award, given to a graduating student-athlete who has brought the most fame and distinction to the university. Dedicated to numerous community outreach projects and extracurricular activities, the Australia native also helped her USC teams reach the NCAA final in all four seasons in which she competed. Since arriving as a freshman at USC in 2018-19, Kearns took some time away from USC in order to train with her Australian National Team in preparation for and in competition at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games. In 2024, Kearns was instrumental in the Aussies' Olympic silver medal before returning to her final season at USC, where she served as a team captain.
A three-time finalist for the prestigious Peter J. Cutino Award, Kearns also is a four-time ACWPC All-Academic honoree and a three-time MPSF Scholar-Athlete to go along with this season's All-Big Ten Academic honor. Kearns was joined on the 2025 CSC Academic All-District Team by teammate Isabel Zimmerman before being voted to the CSC Academic All-America Second Team
For this year's CSC Academic All-America Women's At-Large Team selections, a total of 46 student-athletes were recognized at the Division I level across many sports: beach volleyball, bowling fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rifle, rowing, skiing and water polo. Sixteen student-athletes were named to the First Team, with 20 on the Second Team and 10 on the Third Team.
Players Mentioned
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