On Thursday, May 13, 2021, North Penn senior Matt Harkrader was recognized for committing to continue his water polo at Gannon University.
Matt Harkrader – Gannon University (Water Polo)
Major: Sports management
Final list of colleges: Gannon, Mount St. Mary’s, Washington & Jefferson
Reasons for choosing Gannon: “I loved their business school, and when I went out there, I liked it – the coach was nice and the water polo team was great.”
What have you gained through your sports experience at North Penn and what is your favorite memory? “I definitely learned time management very well through swimming and water polo. Also, I made very good friendships here. One of my greatest memories was winning state championships three years.”
Coach Jason Grubb says: “Matt has been a key contributor to the team for the past four seasons. He’s been a member of three state championship teams and a very close runner-up this past season. As a junior, he was one of our leading scorers and our utility player as first off the bench. He was in a role with many, many seniors, and he was able to come in and be a huge contributor as an offensive threat. I asked him to play all over the pool, and with no hesitation, he would go wherever I asked. Moving to his senior year – we graduated a ton of seniors, we graduated 13 of them. Matt was one of our few holdovers that had high level varsity game experience, so he needed to now jump into the leadership role.
“As a senior, I moved him into the center position, and in water polo, that is one of the most physical positions. He would routinely be double or triple teamed, and he was still one of the leading scorers in our state. That versatility led him to a first team all-state award and one of the finalists for the MVPs in the state. He’s one of our first boys to play college water polo in quite a few years, so I’m extremely excited to see where that will lead him. I’ve talked to the Gannon coach quite often, and as a referee at the college level, I’m really excited to next year hopefully get some Gannon games to see how Matt can do in the water in college. I know the versatility he showed here at North Penn is going to lead him to that high level of success at Gannon.”
About Matt:
Favorite food: Chicken Casserole
Favorite TV show: The Office
Favorite music: Rap
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