U.S. team features five locals

Former UC Irvine All-Americans Jeff Powers, Ryan Bailey, Tim Hutten and Genai Kerr, as well as former Corona del Mar High standout John Mann were named to the USA Water Polo men’s senior national team’s 14-man roster that will play in the FINA World Championships that start July 20 in Rome, Italy.

Mann, who starred at UC Berkeley, is the lone alternate on Team USA, which possesses 11 Olympians, including 10 members of the 2008 sliver-medal winning squad from the Beijing Olympics.

Bailey, a three-time Olympian, is headed to his sixth world championships. Powers is a two-time Olympian. Bailey, Powers and Hutten were on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, that had Mann as an alternate. Kerr, a 2004 Olympian, returns to the squad.

Coming off a fourth-place finish at the 2009 FINA World League Super Finals in Podgorica, Montenegro the squad is hoping to avenge a ninth-place finish at the 2007 world championships in Melbourne, Australia.

Hutten scored one goal in the 9-7 loss to Serbia in the bronze-medal match. Hutten and Powers each scored a goal in Team USA’s 10-6 semifinal loss to Montenegro. Hutten and Powers scored three goals apiece in the Americans’ 14-3 win over Japan earlier in the tournament. Powers also scored one goal in a 10-7 tournament win over Australia.

The U.S. team opens play against the host, Italy, on July 20. The Americans will also meet Macedonia and Romania in preliminary group play.

The team is coached by Terry Schroeder.

“Making cuts is never easy, especially as it gets down to the end,” Schroeder said. “There are a lot of guys that are very close and it certainly was not my favorite part of the process last year nor this year and probably will never be, but I think we are in a pretty good place here. We got our 14 named and we are looking forward to going into world championships with that group.”

— From staff reports