DP alum Ryann Neushul ready to add her own Olympic story to incredible Sister Act

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - It is three-of-a-kind as Ryan Neushul is a U.S. Olympian as she follows in her older sister footsteps Kiley and Jamie.

"They set the bar real high," smiled Ryann Neushul who is headed to Paris as a member of the 3-time defending olympic champion U.S. Women's Water Polo Team.

Ryann, a 2018 Dos Pueblos High School graduate, is the baby sister and will try to add to the "Neushul Gold Rush" in water polo.

Kiley Neushul won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro while Jamie Neushul captured gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"I look to them, they are my role models," began Ryann. "I certainly look to them for guidance and think about where they have been and know that I can do that myself."

Just as Kiley and Jamie did before her, Ryann starred at both DP and at Stanford University where she has one more year left with the Cardinal.

Ryann is a 3-time NCAA National Champion and for Team USA she has switched to a defensive role.

"It is really physical and you have to fight and embrace the work that is behind that position," said Neushul who battles players much bigger than her in the set position.

"She would be the first to say you got to be ferocious," explained USA Water Polo head coach Adam Krikorian. "She is not the tallest in stature but she is able to have success based on her determination, her effort, her intelligence, kind of being one step ahead of the people that she is playing."

Ryann Neushul is proud of her water polo roots having grown up playing for her mom's(Cathy Neushul) Santa Barbara 805 Water Polo Club.

"I really would not be here without my mom, without any of the coaches there, just the community, the fundamentals, the water polo, it made me who I am today not just as a player but as a person," said a thankful Ryann Neushul.

She also appreciated her high school putting up banners recognizing all 10 former students who are Olympians.

"I am humbled and honored to be next to so many names up there including my two sisters but athletes beyond that, it just shows how rich of a community we have in Santa Barbara."

The U.S. enters Paris as the top-ranked team in the world but Neushul and the team knows nothing will be handed to them.

"We are in a really difficult group with a lot of European teams that are really competitive so we are not expecting any easy "gimmie-games" here, it's going to be competitive which is what you want."

Ryann Neushul has been competing all her life to keep up with her talented older sisters and now it is her "Golden Moment."

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