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Junior driver Kelly Rulon was snubbed of a nomination for the Cutino Award even though she helped

Early last week the seventh-annual Peter J. Cutino Award – water polo’s version of the Heisman Trophy – nominees were unveiled.

But the water polo community was surprised by the names not on that list.

Out of the three nominees, none was from UCLA. This is the first time a Bruin has not been nominated since the inception of the award.

Stanford sophomore goalie Meredith McColl, USC junior driver Brittany Hayes, who was nominated last year, and teammate Lauren Wenger, a senior two-meter forward, were nominated for the prestigious award.

Snubbed were UCLA junior driver Kelly Rulon, who led the Bruins in scoring with 48 goals, and senior utility Thalia Munro, who was a nominee last season and widely considered the best defender in the country. Both Bruins were members of the 2004 Olympic team that captured the bronze medal. Rulon was named to the All-MPSF First Team and Munro to the All-MPSF Second Team.

“I guess it’s because ’SC had such a great year and a lot of the players split votes,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “The players that were nominated are deserving (of the award).”

The coach added, “Maybe I am biased, but I have a couple of players that are just as deserving. I thought this year the top-10 players were close. In a way it’s disappointing.”

Said Rulon on not getting nominated: “It’s always nice to have personal accolades, but at the end of the day you look into NCAA Championships much more than individual accolades.”

Nominees for the Cutino Award are selected by the 58 Division I women’s water polo coaches. These coaches vote for three nominees, none of which can be members of their own team. The eventual winner will be voted on again by the 58 coaches, but this time, coaches rank the players and can vote for members of their own team.

The Olympic Club, which tabulates the votes, does not release the number of votes for fear that they will be manipulated. Asked how close both Rulon and Munro were to being nominated, athletic director Gary Crook said they finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

As for the reasoning behind why UCLA will not be represented at the annual ceremony, Crook could only speculate.

“Sometimes if a team has a lot of good players, votes are spread thinner versus a school that has one good player,” Crook said. “UCLA has the depth.”

Interestingly enough, Hawai’i utility Iefke Van Belkum, who was named MPSF Player of the Year, was not nominated; the sophomore from the Netherlands led the conference in scoring with 65 goals in 27 games.

The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on June 3 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco at 6 p.m.

McColl, recently named to the All-MPSF First Team, has 207 saves this season for the Cardinal, and has allowed only 109 goals in her 26 games as goalie. Hayes leads the Trojans in scoring with 48 goals and was also named to the All-MPSF First Team. Wenger is fifth on the Trojan’s scoring list with 32 goals.

Last season, UCLA’s Natalie Golda received the Cutino Award.

AROUND THE MPSF: Fourth-year coach Michel Roy was named MPSF Coach of the Year. Roy led the Rainbow Wahine to a second-place finish in the MPSF Tournament in Irvine after handing USC its first loss of the season. ... Stanford driver Lauren Silver earned the Newcomer of the Year Award. ... UCLA junior goalie Emily Feher, senior center Kristina Kunkel and sophomore driver Jillian Kraus earned All-MPSF Honorable Mentions. Driver Anne Belden was named to the MPSF All-Freshman Team.