This is a part of a series from Annenberg Media, highlighting the Olympians that USC is sending to Paris this year.
USC has one of the richest histories of any American university at the Summer Olympics. The Trojans are sending 66 to the 2024 Games in Paris, more than any other U.S. university.
Heading into these Games, USC has had 512 Olympians in its history — adding 33 first-time Olympians to the tally this year to put the total at 545 — and 326 medals across the history of the Games, again more than any U.S. university. If USC was its own country, the Trojans would be tied for the 12th-most medals in the Summer Olympics of any competing country. With 153 gold medals, USC would rank No. 11 in that category of any country.
Water polo is not one of the Trojans’ most well-represented sports — that would go to swimming and track and field — but USC is still sending 14 water polo athletes to the 2024 edition of the Olympics. Seven of the players are men, tying a program record for most male water polo athletes the Trojans have sent to the Games, which was originally set in 1956.
Here are the athletes headed to Paris for water polo who competed at USC. Annenberg Media will update this story with the athletes’ results at the Games.
Women’s Water Polo
Tilly Kearns
Country: Australia
Years at USC: 2019-present
Results: Earned a silver medal in the Olympic Tournament
Currie: Kearns is a rising redshirt senior at USC, but has missed the 2021 and 2024 seasons with the Trojans to train for the Olympics. In her three years playing for the Trojans, Kearns has been named a first-team All-American and All-MPSF 2-Meter twice, while leading USC in scoring in 2021. She was named a finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award — given to the top male and female Water Polo player — in both years.
Kearns and the Australians finished fifth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which were held in 2021.
Emily Ausmus
Country: USA
Years at USC: 2024-present (Incoming freshman)
Results: Fell in bronze medal match with Team USA
Currie: Emily Ausmus has not played for the Trojans yet. She’s only a USC commit from Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, set to start her collegiate career next season for the Trojans. Nonetheless, she is already experienced in international competition.
Ausmus has played in six international tournaments, most recently the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in February, when she scored four goals for Team USA. Her first senior-level international tournament was the FINA Intercontinental Cup in 2022, where she scored 16 goals — one for every year she’d been alive at that point.
Hayley McKelvey
Country: Canada
Years at USC: 2015-2018
Results: Fell to Spain in quarterfinals
Currie: In her four years with the Trojans, Hayley McKelvey won National Championships in 2016 and 2018. She was a third-team All-American and All-MPSF Honorable Mention in 2018. McKelvey is the Trojans’ 35th all-time leading scorer.
McKelvey joined Team Canada in 2017, helping her country to a seventh place finish in the 2020 Olympics, with seven goals in the tournament. She won silver medals at the 2019 and 2023 Pan American Games, and then the 2017 FINA World League Super Final.
McKelvey plays professionally for Plebiscito Padova in Italy.
Verica Bakoc
Country: Canada
Years at USC: 2018-2021
Results: Fell to Spain in quarterfinals
Currie: Verica Bakoc played four years for the Trojans, winning national titles in 2018 and 2021. She was third on the team in scoring and an All-American and All-MPSF honorable mention in her senior year.
She has two international tournament medals, both silver, earning those medals in the 2017 FINA World Intercontinental Cup and 2023 Pan American Games.
Bakoc plays professionally for Mediterrani in Barcelona.
Kaleigh Gilchrist
Country: USA
Years at USC: 2011-2014
Results: Fell in bronze medal match with Team USA
Currie: Kaleigh Gilchrist played for USC from 2011 to 2014, winning a national championship in 2013 and making second-team All-American in all but her freshman year. She graduated as the 11th-highest scorer in USC history.
Gilchrist joined Team USA in 2014 and has been part of four World Champion teams, winning gold medals in 2016 and 2020.
Gilchrist is also a professional surfer. She won the 18-and-under Surfing America titles in 2009 and 2010, representing the US Surf Team at five World Surfing Games. Her father was also a swimmer for both Team USA and the Trojans from 1964 through 1968.
Amanda Longan
Country: USA
Years at USC: 2016-2019
Results: Fell in bronze medal match with Team USA
Currie: Amanda Longan won the Cutino award with the Trojans in 2018 and was nominated again in 2019. She was a first-team All-American and All-MPSF goalkeeper in 2016, 2018 and 2019, also earning third-team All-American and second-team All-MPSF honors in 2017. Longan saved the third-most shots of any USC goalkeeper, helping lead the Trojans to two national championships in her time with the team.
Longan has been a part of the last four World Championship-winning teams the Americans have put forward, having joined the National Team in 2017. At the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup, she was named Best Goalkeeper.
She is also an assistant coach at UCLA.
Anni Espar
Country: Spain
Years at USC: 2013
Results: Won a gold medal with Spain
Currie: Anni Espar won a national championship with the Trojans in 2013. She was first-team All-American and All-MPSF in her only season with the Trojans, during which she scored the game-winning goal in the longest collegiate water polo game in history.
Espar has two silver medals from the 2012 and 2020 Olympics. She scored twice against Team USA in the 2012 gold medal match and was the second-leading scorer of the tournament. She was also on Spain’s 2016 fifth-place Olympic team.
She plays professionally for CN Mataró in Barcelona. Espar’s sister, Clara, also plays for Spain after a prestigious career at San Jose State University.
Men’s Water Polo
Kostas Genidounias
Country: Greece
Years at USC: 2011-2014
Results: Fell in quarterfinals to Serbia
Ocañas: Genidounias graduated from USC in 2014 as the Trojans’ all-time leading scorer with 261 career goals. He is headed to his third Olympic Games, making his debut with the Greece national team in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics. In the 2020 Olympics, Genidounias and Greece captured their first medal ever, finishing with silver at the Tokyo Olympics.
At USC, Genidounias had an unforgettable career for the Trojans, winning three consecutive NCAA Championships from 2011 to 2013. As a leader of the team, he was a four-time All-American. In his final season in 2014, Geindounias won the prestigious Peter J. Cutino Award, given to the top male and female water polo player in the NCAA.
Hannes Daube
Country: USA
Years at USC: 2018-2019, 2021
Results: Won a bronze medal with Team USA
Ocañas: Daube is headed to his second Olympics Games as a member of the United States men’s national team. Debuting for the national team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Daube is no stranger to the international stage, competing in four World Championships, the 2024 World Cup, and several FINA World League Super Finals. Daube helped lead USA to bronze at the World Cup, and earn silver at the 2022 FINA World League Super Finals.
At USC, Daube excelled for the Trojans, named a three-time All-American. As a freshman, Naube earned the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Newcomer of the Year award in 2018, scoring 58 goals as a true freshman. In the same season, Daube helped lead USC to an NCAA Championship win.
Daube’s family water polo lineage runs strong at USC, with his sister Eike a member of the 2013 USC women’s water polo NCAA championship team.
Marko Vavic
Country: USA
Years at USC: 2017-2018
Results: Won a bronze medal with Team USA
Ocañas: Vavic is headed to his second Olympic Games in Paris, aftering finishing in sixth place with United States men’s national team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Vavic has been competing on the international stage since his youth. Starting with the U.S youth national team, Vavic was the second-leading scorer at the 2016 Youth World Championships. After moving up to the senior team, Vavic has competed in four World Championships, most recently a bronze medal result in the 2024 Games. In addition, he helped Team USA win gold in the 2019 Pan American Games.
At USC, Vavic had a short-lived career, missing his last two seasons for the Trojans due to personal reasons and the coronavirus pandemic. In his two years with the team, Vavic earned second-team All-American honors twice and played a role in the Trojans 2018 NCAA Championship run, scoring one goal in the title game.
In 2019, Vavic did not compete with the team, amidst the involvement in the college admissions bribery scandal by his father and USC men’s water polo head coach Jovan Vavic. The following year, Vavic decided not to compete for the Trojans, opting to compete and train overseas with the U.S men’s national team.
Blake Edwards
Country: Australia
Years at USC: 2015-2017
Results: Fell in quarterfinals to Team USA
Ocañas: A Melbourne native, Edwards is headed to his second Olympic Games with the Australian national team. Edwards debuted for the Aussie Sharks at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In international play, Edwards was a top scorer at the 2020 World League Intercontinental Cup. In addition, he was a team captain for Australia at the 2013 and 2015 World University Games. Edwards helped the Sharks win bronze at the 2019 FINA World League Super Finals and silver at the 2018 FINA World Cup.
At USC, Edwards was a team captain, and three-time All-American. As a freshman in 2015, Edwards led the Trojans with 68 goals, earning All-American First Team honors. After three years with the program, Edwards ranked No. 9 all-time in career scoring with 156 goals.
Edwards’ is one of sixth brothers in his family, with his youngest brother Lachlan Edwards a USC alum and Olympian.
Lachlan Edwards
Country: Australia
Years at USC: 2014-2017
Results: Fell in quarterfinals to Team USA
Ocañas: Brothers with Blake Edwards, Lachlan is also headed to his second Olympic Games for the Australian national team. Debuting for the senior national team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Edwards has been around the Aussie Sharks since his youth. He has competed in the two FINA World Cup, winning silver in 2018. In addition, he won bronze at the 2019 FINA World League Super Final.
At USC, Edwards was an effective two-meter for the Trojans off the bat. Scoring 31 goals as a true freshman for the Trojans, Edwards earned a spot on the 2014 NCAA tournament roster. In four years, he was a two-time All-American, finishing his career No. 18 on the USC’s all-time scoring list with 144 career goals.
Water polo is in the Edwards’ family bloodline, with Lachlan one of six brothers. With USC and Australia, Lachlan has had the opportunity to play alongside his older brother, Blake, describing the brothers’ performance at the 2014 FINA World Cup as his most thrilling sports moment.
Jacob Mercep
Country: Australia
Years at USC: 2018-2021
Results: Fell in quarterfinals to Team USA
Ocañas: Born in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Mercep is headed to his first Olympic Games in Paris as a member of the Australian national team. Mercep spent his youth and teenage years playing for the Croatian national team before making the switch to Australia. Mercep scored 67 goals in 31 appearances from 2014 to 2017 for Croatia, leading his country to a gold medal at the 2016 FINA Youth World Championships, beating Montenegro in the final.
After the pandemic, Mercep moved to Australia to play two seasons for the Sydney University Lions, where his impressive performances led to a spot with the Aussie Sharks. Mercep made his debut for the Australian national team earlier this year at the 2024 World Championships.
Mercep began his collegiate career at San Jose State, but transferred to USC after his freshman season. In one year at SJSU, Mercep set the team’s single-season record with 93 goals on 192 shots in 27 games. In four years with the Trojans, Mercep was a four-time ACWPC All-American First-Team member and became a major contributor to the Trojans’ 2018 NCAA Championship run. Mercep was named NCAA tournament MVP in 2018, scoring five goals in the championship game.
Nic Porter
Country: Australia
Years at USC: 2018-2021
Results: Fell in quarterfinals to Team USA
Ocañas: A Peregian Spring, Queensland native, goalkeeper Nic Porter is headed to his first Olympic Games for the Australian national team. Porter made his debut for the senior team in 2018, earning a silver medal at the 2018 BENU Cup in Budapest and the 2018 FINA World League Intercontinental Cup. In his youth, Porter spent time with the Australian junior national team from 2014 to 2017.
At USC, Porter spent four seasons with the Trojans, named an ACWPC All-American every season, one time on the first team and three times on the second Team. In addition, Porter made the NCAA All-Tournament team three times, named to the first team in 2019. In his final season in 2021, Porter was a Cutino Award finalist, finishing No .4 on USC’s all-time career saves list with 671.