The success Kiley Neushul has experienced in the sport of water pool is off the charts.
The Dos Pueblos High alum has been a champion at all levels of competition, from youth club, high school and the college ranks to world tournaments and the Olympic Games with Team USA. She’s also won at the professional game overseas.
Neushul and her incredible career were celebrated with her induction into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame on Friday at a ceremony in Claremont.
She is joined in the 2024 induction class by former Team USA coach, Chris Oeding, a two-time Olympian and World Cup gold medalist who captained the 2000 U.S Olympic team in Sydney, and coaching icons Doug Peabody (The Bishops School in La Jolla and the San Diego Shores Water Polo Club) and Ken Smith (Punahou School in Oahu, Hawaii).
The eldest of three daughters of water polo-playing-and-coaching parents Peter and Cathy Neushul, Kiley won five USA Water Polo Junior Olympics titles with the youth organization that would become the juggernaut Santa Barbara 805 Water Polo.
At Dos Pueblos, she led the Chargers to four straight CIF-SS championships and was named the section player of the year each time. She played for the USAWP Junior National Team and won a Junior World Championship gold medal before starting a stellar career at Stanford.
She helped the Cardinal win three NCAA Championships in four seasons and twice was honored as the recipient of the Cutino Award (in 2012 and 2015) for being the best player in the college game.
The winning continued for Kiley as a member of the USAWP Senior National Team. The squad won gold at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia and claimed the ultimate prize: an Olympics gold medal at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. She later helped the U.S. win two more World Championship titles in 2017 and 2019.
She moved to Spain and played professional water polo for C.N. Sabadell in Barcelona. Her team won a European League championship and three Spanish League titles. Domestically, she helped the New York Athletic Club win multiple titles.
Kiley started the Neushul sister act of USA women’s water polo players and Olympians. Middle sister, Jamie, won gold with the 2020 team in Tokyo and youngest sister Ryann recently was named to the Olympic squad that will be vying for a fourth straight Team USA championship next month in Paris.
Jamie said Kiley has been an inspiration for her.
“She was someone who went full force with anything she was doing,” she said in a taped interview for the induction ceremony. “Water polo-wise, when I think of Kiley, it’s redefining what was possible for this sport. She just took it to another level from whatever level it was at, and that started when she was 10 years old.”
Jamie added that Kiley had an incredible will to win.
“When she was on your team, no matter what, you know you have a chance.”
That was evident during the 2010 CIF-SS Division 1 final. The Neushul girls led Dos Pueblos back from a 7-2 deficit to a stunning 8-7 victory over Newport Harbor to win the title and complete a 31-0 season. Kiley passed to Jamie for the game-winning goal.
John Tanner, who coached Kiley and Jamie at Stanford, said Kiley stepped up in the big situations.
“I saw it countless times with club, high school and our college team where we’d get to the end of the season and Kiley would explode and have her highest-producing games turn to goal scoring,” he said. “It was something she could have done the whole season but she was mindful of managing the growth of the team the entire season.”
Dan Klatt, an assistant on the women’s senior national team that won the 2016 Olympics gold medal, said Kiley brought an incredible work rate to the team.
“Every day she came to the pool she put 200 percent into every drill. She was always one of the leaders.”
Team USA teammate Rachel Fattal agreed.
“She’s tenacious and competitive and really, really water polo intelligent,” said Fatal. “That girl is as decorated as they come. And she’s brought so much to the sport and brought so much to the national team.
“She’s just a loyal friend and a good person. She’s had a huge impact no matter where she’s been, that’s for sure.”
