Bucknell University Athletics
Barron and Napleton Travel Through High School and College as Teammates
12/18/2012 7:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Dec. 18, 2012
By Todd Merriett, Bucknell Athletic Communications
It comes so close to be being a great movie script. Boyhood friends and longtime teammates lead their high school to three state titles. They decide to go to the same college more than 600 miles from home and once again are teammates. They progress from role players as freshmen to the only two seniors and team captains four years later. They then lead their squad to a conference championship. Unfortunately, a director would need to use some artistic license to complete the truly Hollywood ending.
Bucknell senior men's water polo captains and natives of Oak Park, Ill., Brian Barron and Matt Napleton followed the above path. They led the Bison to the program's first-ever Southern Championships title in early November and then helped top-seeded Bucknell advance to the finals of the Eastern Championship for the first time in nearly 20 years. In the championship game, Barron scored a team-high four goals, while Napleton recorded 10 saves. The Bison battled back from a four-goal second-half deficit to force overtime against fellow top seed St. Francis (N.Y.). The Terriers then outscored the Bison 2-1 in overtime to send Bucknell home just shy of their first Eastern title since 1985.
"It was definitely a really emotional weekend," recalls Napleton about the Eastern Championship at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool. "We had some highs and we had some lows. It's only been a day, but eventually we will realize the run we had was pretty good and we were as close as we could get to winning the title without actually doing it."
Barron and Napleton were standouts at Fenwick High School near Chicago, a growing water polo community. Barron was a two-time All-American, while Napleton was a Third Team All-American as a senior and registered a 2.2 goals-against average.
Growing up, both Barron and Napleton started off as swimmers. Thanks to some family influence, including his twin brother (Danny) picking up the sport, Barron discovered water polo in fifth grade. The 6'7" Napleton was considering playing basketball entering his freshman year of high school, but his older brother told him the opportunities for both success and college opportunities in water polo were much higher, so Napleton focused on the pool instead of the hardwood.
Napleton was a member of the same club swimming team as Barron in their younger years, but they did not gravitate toward each other just yet. After Napleton threw himself into both swimming and water polo in high school, he, Barron, Danny Barron and a couple other Fenwick water polo players became inseparable friends.
Unexpectedly, Barron and Napleton decided separately on becoming part of Bucknell's storied water polo program that has made five NCAA appearances. Barron chose the Lewisburg, Pa., campus of Bucknell early in his senior year, while Napleton waited until the last possible day in May to make his choice. Despite the different timelines for choosing the school, both quickly cited the balance of strong academics and athletics as well as the recruiting abilities of then-head coach John Abdou as their reasons for becoming Bison.
"There are only a handful of schools in the country that have the balance of academics and athletics of Bucknell," says Barron, who led the Bison with a career-high 59 goals this season.
"And John Abdou did a great job of recruiting both of us," adds Napleton, who ranks sixth in program history with 661 career saves. "I don't know if I ever would have considered Bucknell without him. He texted me yesterday [after the Eastern Championship title game] and I made sure to tell him thank you because there is no way I would have had this opportunity anywhere else."
Only one other student-athlete was a member of the recruiting class along with Barron and Napleton, but he quickly left the roster, leaving Barron and Napleton as the only two members of the Class of 2013 on the Bison roster throughout their four years.
Barron began his career as a solid reserve player. He appeared in 31 games as a freshman, starting nine. The next year he became a regular member of the starting lineup for the first time and nearly doubled his goal output. As a junior, he put together his best season yet with 44 goals and 26 assists, earning Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) All-Southern Division First Team honors, setting the bar high for his senior campaign. Barron easily met, and probably exceeded, nearly all expectations this fall. He was second on the team with 100 points, totaled 34 steals and drew 17 ejections en route to CWPA Southern Division Player of the Year honors, becoming the first Bucknell player to ever win the award. He followed that up with a First Team All-Eastern Championship honor this postseason.
Like Barron, Napleton began his career as a reserve and ended it as one of the better players in program history. After spending most of his freshman year apprenticing behind standout veterans Nick Donahue and Miles Gilhuly, Napleton split time with Gilhuly as a sophomore. He finally took over as the primary goalkeeper in 2011 and never relinquished his spot. After registering a career-high 229 saves a year ago, Napleton posted 330 this year, the third-most on the school's single-season list. His save percentage of .543 was the highest by a Bison goalie in more than a decade. A First Team All-Southern Division selection in 2011, Napleton followed that up with another first-team honor in 2012 to go along with a Second Team All-Eastern Championship award.
Barron and Napleton were able to have so much success despite guiding the program through a coaching change midway through their career. Abdou left to head back to his native California and former Brown assistant John McBride was hired to take over.
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"We understood why Abdou had to leave, so there was no bitterness there," says Barron. "Both Abdou and McBride are easy to talk to, which is an important quality in a coach."
McBride's coaching style has definitely paid off. Bucknell won seven games in a row prior to the Eastern Championship final. Included in that run were four straight wins at the Southern Championships to propel the Bison to the title in Kinney Natatorium. Barron posted 13 goals and dished out 11 assists while winning 12 of 17 sprints at Southerns. He made possibly his biggest contribution in an opening-round victory over George Washington when he captured all eight sprints and scored the game-winning goal with 1:16 remaining in the second sudden-victory overtime period. Napleton collected 50 saves and yielded just 27 goals in the four Bison victories at the Southern Championships. He registered 20 stops in the overtime win against the Colonials, the second-highest figure of his career.
A movie director certainly would have had the Bison continue their postseason success and down three-time NCAA participant St. Francis, but this is real life. Perhaps the final scene has yet to be written for Barron and Napleton, who are destined for great things in life after four outstanding years at Bucknell.
Note: This story appeared in a recent edition of the Bucknell Basketball Gameday Program.
