Bret Bonanni

Bret Bonanni (born 20 January 1994) is a water polo player from the United States. He was part of the American team at the 2016 US Men's Water Polo team, at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro that finished in tenth place.

Early life Bonanni was born January 20, 1994 in Newport Beach, California to father Ed Bonanni and mother Kim. Bonanni earned Varsity letters in water polo all four years of his attendance. He captained the team in his last two years, and was instrumental in leading Mater Dei to four California Interscholastic Federation titles. During his years of participation with the Mater Dei, the water polo team in 2008-9 won CIF Division II Southern Section titles, and in 2008-9 and in 201-22 won Southern Section Division I titles. Recognized for his water polo play in High School, Bonanni won honors as part of the 2010 and 2011 NISCA/Speedo All-America Boy's First Team. In 2010 and 2011, he was a CIF Southern Section Division I Player of the Year.

Stanford University Bonanni attended Stanford University from around 2012-2016, majoring in Science, Technology, and Society. While playing water polo at Stanford for Head Coach John Vargas, a USA Water Polo Hall of Fame inductee, and US Olympic Coach, Bonanni was a finalist for the 2015 Peter J. Cutino award, presented each year to the top collegiate water polo player.

As a Freshman at Stanford in 2012, he was the season team high scorer with 73 goals, had 213 goals in 2013 as a Sophomore, and as a Junior in 2014 scored 96 goals to lead the Mountain Pacific conference. In 2014, as a Junior, he was an American Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All American, First Team, and an All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation First team honoree. In their second game, they lost to Spain 10-9, and lost its first game against Croatia 7-5. Bonanni scored four goals in the close loss to Spain. Team Captain Tony Avezedo had also played at Stanford as had Bonanni.