Jeff Cole, right, hangs out with Santa Barbara Aquatics Club members Brian Boswell (USC) and Lance Curtis (UC San Diego) at the NCAA Water Polo Championship Banquet in Berkeley. Cole plays for Princeton. (Photo by Peter Neushul)
BY PETER NEUSHUL
Jeff Cole, a senior at Princeton University, won a bronze medal at the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Water Polo Championship held a couple of weeks ago at UC Berkeley.
This was Cole’s second trip to the big dance as he helped lead the Tigers to their first-ever appearance and a bronze medal in the 2009 NCAA championship.
Cole is a Santa Barbara High grad and a member of the Santa Barbara Aquatics Club.
Longtime Santa Barbara sports chronicler John Zant noted that Cole completed a “rare trifecta at the 2012 Championships—an Ivy League degree and two third-place finishes at the NCAA’s.”
Cole’s achievement was no easy task after he suffered a shoulder injury that caused him to miss the first 25 games of the season. He returned to play at center for the Tigers in the final three tournaments, helping lead them to the Eastern Conference Championship and eventual NCAA qualification.
Cole, a politics major, led the Tigers in scoring in 2009, his sophomore year. David de l’Arbe (SBAC/SBHS) was a senior and Cole’s teammate on the 2009 bronze-medal team.
After falling in the semifinal game to eventual champion USC (17-4), Cole faced former SBAC teammate Lance Curtis (SBAC/San Marcos) in the bronze-medal game. Curtis is a junior utility player at the UC San Diego, where he is majoring in engineering. The Tritons held an early lead but Princeton rallied to take a two-goal lead late in the fourth quarter, eventually winning 9-7.
Princeton finished the season ranked 10th nationally.
In 2006, Cole helped led SBAC to the U.S. National Junior Olympic 18-Under Championship.
Jeff’s younger brother Miles Cole is a standout defender for SBAC’s 14U Boys team.
