UC Irvine was making big things happen at the Olympics this summer, and brought their latest piece of hardware to campus this week.

Men’s water polo players Ryan Bailey, Tim Hutten, Jeff Powers and Rick Merlo came to where it all began to show off their silver medals. The USA men’s water polo team was a heavy underdog throughout the two week long tournament and ended up getting a silver medal.

The guys are the latest campus celebs.

Press Release:
http://today.uci.edu/Features/profile_detail.asp?key=381

“UCI holds a special place for us,” Powers said. “This is where we were taken in, and this is where our careers began. It’s awesome to be recognized like this on campus.”
 

The fact that these guys came back to Irvine shows how much class they have. The program has always been solid and has turned out tremendous athletes and these four coming back to celebrate with the community only strengthens that point.
 

There were actually ten other Olympic athletes who participated in the Bejiing games with ties to UC Irvine. Two of the coaches on the USA volleyball team even brought home gold medals.
 

UC Irvine is actually still knockin’ countries out to this day. Nick Scandone, another UC Irvine alum, is competing in the Paralympics in sailing.
 

I will have the update on his results next week.
 

Anteater pride baby…