Dynamic Duo

Stanford juniors Bret Bonanni and Maggie Steffens have been nominated for the FINA Water Polo Player of the Year Award. Of the six nominees in the men’s and women’s division, they are the only college student-athletes to be selected.

Steffens previously claimed the award in 2012. This year, the winner is slated to receive the honor at a special ceremony in Doha, Qatar ahead of the World Swimming Championships (25m) set to start December 3.

“It’s definitely an honor and a privilege,” said Steffens, a science, technology and society major from Danville, Calif. “When I won the award in 2012, I didn’t really realize what it meant or what went into it. For me, it was a surprise because I played with some of the best players in the world on my team.”

In 2012, Steffens helped lead the U.S. to the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in London. She led all scorers with 21 goals, netting five in the final against Spain, and earned Olympic MVP honors.

A two-time ACWPC All-America First Team selection and two-time finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award presented to the nation’s top water polo player, Steffens helped spark Stanford to the NCAA title last year. She shared team scoring honors with 51 goals, including seven at the NCAA Championships.

Bonanni competed for the U.S. Men’s National Team last summer at the FINA Intercontinental Qualification Tournament, the FINA World League Super Final, and FINA World Cup. He was chosen to the All-Tournament Team at the FINA World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he paced the Americans to a fourth-place finish by scoring 13 goals, and contributed seven goals in the FINA World League Super Final in Dubai, helping the U.S. finish fifth. Bonanni also netted 13 goals to lift the U.S. to the gold medal at the FINA Intercontinental Qualification Tournament in Shanghai, China last May.

“It’s definitely cool and an honor to be mentioned with all those guys, but it’s such a team sport, I couldn’t be up there without my teammates,” said Bonanni, a science, technology and society major from Huntington Beach, Calif. “What’s different for me is I’ve never been to an Olympics or won an NCAA title, so those obviously loom over my head a lot more than this award.”

After being named to the ACWPC All-America Second Team in 2012, when he scored a team-best 73 goals and recorded 12 hat tricks, Bonanni made the First Team last year by pouring in a Cardinal-high 97 goals and posted 20 hat tricks. He scored at least four goals in nine of the first 10 games and helped lead Stanford to the NCAA Championships, where he produced eight goals and was named to the All-Tournament First Team.

This year, Bonanni has netted a team-leading 54 goals to help the third-ranked Cardinal bolt to a 15-2 record. He has scored multiple goals in all but one game heading into Saturday’s home showdown against No. 1 USC.

Bonanni now ranks third on Stanford’s all-time scoring list with 224 goals and is on pace to pass all-time leader Tony Azevedo (332). He needs 12 goals to overtake James Bergeson (235) for second place.

“It’s definitely something you think about because people bring it up,” Bonnani said. “The No. 1 goal is to win the national championship. If I could win these next two years and not score another goal, that would be fine with me. That’s really all that matters. Nobody remembers how many goals he (Azevedo) scored, but that he won two national championships and is going for his fifth Olympics.”

What is it like to win both?

“When I was 4-years-old, I was dreaming of being an Olympic champion, whether I was pretending to be Mia Hamm (soccer) rather than in the water,” said Steffens. “It’s still a goal and a dream. Obviously, I wanted to win an NCAA title, but I didn’t really know about it until later.

“I think the most interesting thing is that team aspect. Every team is different and that’s what makes it special. The same goes for Stanford. Whether it be an Olympic medal versus an NCAA title, it’s more about the experience. Obviously, I’m very proud of both and it gives me chills when I think about them. What gives me the chills is not necessarily the title of it but what you had to go through to the get there.”

Bonanni has his sights set on the 2016 Olympic Games.

“It’s a lot of sacrifice and something that’s on my mind all the time having not been,” he said. “You have to make sure you’re staying healthy, on top of your game and not going backwards. It can definitely be stressful at times. I rely on my Stanford teammates to motivate and push me in practice. It’s a journey and is going to have its bumps and highs and lows. I hope at the end I can get to the show.”

Steffens and Bonanni are thriving in the Stanford environment.

“I think it’s really easy to be humbled because you look to your left, look to your right, your front and back, and it’s all these amazing people with these unique qualities that you cannot find anywhere else,” said Steffens. “And it’s cool, because so many people don’t share those things. You might be hanging out with someone or be in a class with someone for a few months and then later you may find out about this amazing thing they’ve done, like creating a non-profit to save the world. That’s why leadership is so evident in so many students and the faculty. It’s been amazing to have different inspirations.”

Added Bonanni, “It’s really just an honor to learn here. All the professors – each class you take – is just awesome. I haven’t had a single professor where I’ve said, ‘I’m just not feeling this,’ because they have so much passion about what they’re teaching and what they’re teaching is for a reason. It also motivates you as a student to want to work harder for them.”

While fellow students, faculty and staff take pride in what student-athletes accomplish in their respective sports, it works both ways. Steffens and Bonanni were thrilled last week when they heard that professor W.E.  Moerner won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, marking the fifth time in the last three years that a Stanford faculty member has been honored with a Nobel Prize.

“When you hear something like that, you’re kind of like, ‘Good for him. I’m pumped for that guy,’ ’’ Bonanni said. “He’s obviously pursuing something he’s passionate about and that kind of makes me say, ‘What am I going to do? What am I going to be passionate about?’ It’s back to the overall point of striving for excellence.”

Steffens is joined on the ballot by Kami Craig (USA), Maica Garcia (ESP), Giulia Gorlero (ITA), Rita Keszthelyi (HUN), and Rowie Webster (AUS). Bonanni is a finalist along with Filip Filipovic (SRB), Dusan Mandic (SRB), Gojko Pijetlovic (SRB), Daniel Varga (HUN) and Denes Varga (HUN).