SINGAPORE — UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo alumnus Sam Nangle is set to earn his fifth cap for the Australian National Team next month, with the three-time All-American earning a spot on the Aussie Sharks' squad for the World Championships in Singapore, beginning on July 12. Nangle made his senior debut in Green and Gold shortly after wrapping up his Gaucho career, with his first cap coming in March of 2023.
 
Nangle and Australia have been drawn in Group B, alongside Spain, Japan and Hungary, opening their run at the competition against the Hungarians on July 12 at 2:35 a.m. Pacific Time. They will face Spain on July 14 at 1 a.m. Pacific, then conclude group play against Japan at 7:35 p.m. Pacific on July 15. The placement rounds begin on July 17, with the finals set for July 24. Australia finished 11^th at the 2024 championship and 10^th in 2023; their best-ever finish of fourth came in 1998.
 
This will be Nangle's first visit to the World Championships with the senior team, but he attended back-to-back Junior World Championships in 2016 and 2017. After those tournaments, he arrived in Santa Barbara and began making his mark as a Gaucho, averaging over a goal per game as a freshman in 2018. He was the team's top scorer in both 2021 and 2022, with the former being a career-best 48-goal campaign for the left-handed center. He earned All-America Honorable Mention in 2019, 2021 and 2022, collecting All-Golden Coast Conference honors all three years as well. Following his graduation from UC Santa Barbara, he embarked on a professional career that has taken him across Europe, first with G.S. Peristeri in Greece and now with C.N. Caballa in Spain.  
 
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