The Costa del Sur water polo club continues to make waves outside the region after competing in this summer’s USA Water Polo Junior Olympic National Championship Tournament in Orange County.
The event featured two sessions: July 17-20 for 12U boys, 14U boys, 16U boys and 18U boys and July 22-25 for 10U girls, 12U girls, 14U girls, 18U girls and coed 10U and 12U teams.
Games took place at Beckman, Buena Park, Capistrano Valley, El Toro, Estancia, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo, Ocean View, Portola, Servite, Trabuco Hills, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, Foothill high schools, Cypress and Golden West colleges and the El Segundo and Wollett aquatic centers.
Costa del Sur competed in both sessions while fielding qualified teams in the 16U boys, 18U boys and 18U girls divisions.
“We played some very good teams,” program director Ernie Medina said. “It was a good experience for the kids.”
Costa del Sur advanced up the rankings in each age group based on its performance at the mega tournament.
Medina pointed out that the 16U boys team entered the tournament ranked 43rd in its division but is now ranked 12th following the Junior Olympics event.
The 18U boys team made the biggest jump in the rankings by going from 78th to 25th following a fifth-place finish at the national championship tournament.
The 18U girls team entered the tournament ranked 48th and is now ranked 19th.
The massive Southern California event obviously served as a springboard for interest in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in which both the United States men and women’s water polo teams excelled in the pool.
The U.S. women defeated Spain, 14-5, to win the program’s third consecutive gold medal while the American men advanced to the quarterfinals.
Team USA was dominant in the women’s field with a 16-5 win over Canada in the quarterfinals and a 15-11 victory against the Republic of China in the semifinals.
Serbia defeated Greece to win the men’s gold medal in Tokyo while Hungary, a longtime power in the sport, won the bronze medal. The gold medal was the second consecutive for Serbia.
Serbia captured the bronze medal in the women’s field.
The Costa del Sur program serves the communities of Spring Valley, Chula Vista, National City and Imperial Beach. For more information, visit the website at www.southcoastwaterpolo.org.
Prep preview
Bonita Vista High School boys water polo coach Betty Alexander is looking for her team to continue its development in the 2021 fall season.
The Barons failed to win a game during the 2021 spring season, going 0-10 overall and 0-6 in Metro-Mesa League play.
She doesn’t’ feel the short season was very representative of her team’s potential.
“We only had six weeks of a season last year,” she said. “The season wasn’t long enough to get that momentum going.”
The Barons will field a young team again this fall, though positive results look to be coming around soon.
Top players include senior Caleb Hutchins and junior Kristian Gutierrez, both returners, who expect to provide key leadership roles in the pool.
“We have four freshmen who are new to the sport,” Alexander said. “We have a lot of new freshmen and sophomores. I think it will be a progression. We’ll build our way back up to where we were.”
Bonita Vista finished runner-up to Point Loma in the 2015 San Diego Section Division III playoffs and advanced to the division quarterfinals in 2018.
Key newcomers include Mario Gonzalez, Cyrus Lopez, Santiago Salinas, Aiden Omelina and Eli Hutchins.
Goalie Robert Yetter received his baptism under fire in a 20-3 scrimmage loss to Hilltop Aug. 11 at the Parkway pool.
“He played well for his first game,” Alexander noted.
Gutierrez scored two of the Barons’ goals in the scrimmage while freshman Eli Hutchins – to cheers from both sides of the pool – scored his first varsity goal late in the game.
Hilltop, which recorded a runner-up finish in June’s San Diego Section Division III championship game, bolted out to a 13-0 lead in the contest.
The Lancers (15-1 last season) moved up to Division II this season but expect to churn the waters with much of their returning firepower back.
Junior Aidan Garces topped Hilltop with six goals in the scoring department in the scrimmage victory while senior Raul Rico tallied four times in the game.
Petros Kapetanios and Liam Romero both scored three goals while Nikos Kapetanios had two goals. Jason Esquivel and Evan Rodriguez both scored one goal in support of junior goalie Timothy Roa (six saves).
“Our goal is to make playoffs and go at least past first round.,” Hilltop head coach Ernie Medina said.
Hilltop defeated Bonita Vista, 19-3, in the junior varsity scrimmage. Chase Taylor started in the cage for the Barons. Emiliano Beltran scored seven goals for the Lancers.
Making waves
Top-seeded Mar Vista was denied a place in the spring’s Division I championship game following a tenuous 7-6 loss to fourth-seeded Poway in the semifinals.
Head coach Chad Kavanagh is looking for his team to bounce back in a big way.
“We are looking to make Mariner history with a Division I title or qualifying for the Open Division,” said Kavanagh, whose team finished runner-up in both the 2014 and 2018 Division II finals. “Either way we would be the first Mar Vista team to do so and it would be a huge accomplishment.”
Mar Vista finished 13-3 in the abbreviated spring season, including a perfect 6-0 record in Metro-Mesa League play as league champions.
With virtually everyone returning to the lineup (the Mariners graduated only one senior), it’s obvious why Kavanagh has so much optimism about the upcoming season.
Top returning field players include seniors Ethan Hastings, Fletcher Field, T.C. Spaulding, Carlos Ibarra and junior Trevor Rector.
Hastings paced the team in scoring with 82 points (54 goals, 28 assists) in 16 games, while Ibarra followed on the scoresheet with 71 points (54 goals, 17 assists) in 15 games. Field racked up 70 points (45 goals, 25 assists) in 16 games while Rector amassed 52 points (22 goals, 30 assists) in 16 games.
Spaulding chalked up 39 points (24 goals, 15 assists) in 16 games while Luke Wilson tallied 33 points (20 goals, 13 assists) in 14 games as a junior.
The Mariners received double-digit scoring from 10 players last season. The scoring column also included senior Jake Osthimer (18 goals, 25 points), sophomore Bradford Dickson (18 goals, 24 points), sophomore Nathan Crosby (15 goals, 22 points), sophomore goalie Dylan Hartley (three goals, 14 points).
Hartley compiled 156 saves in 16 games (9.75 saves per game) while allowing 104 goals (6.5 goals per game).
Hastings also paced the Metro-Mesa League champions defensively with 33 steals, followed by Rector (28 steals), Dickson (28 steals), Wilson (26 steals), Spaulding (24 steals), Ibarra (21 steals) and Field (20 steals).
Some new faces may show up in this season’s scorebook, but it’s likely their time will come next season after the team’s current senior-heavy lineup graduates.
“I’m not sure if any new guys will have a heavy impact on my varsity squad, but I am excited that some new guys tried out this year so we can build back up our program,” Kavanagh said.
Because of renovations to the Mar Vista campus pool, the Mariners will play home games at the Las Palmas pool in National City.
Mar Vista faced off the season with scrimmages Aug. 10-13, followed by games Aug. 26-28 at the Rancho Bernardo varsity tournament and Sept. 3 against Torrey Pines at Las Palmas (3:30 p.m.).
Land of Troy
The Castle Park Trojans will be out to win their third consecutive league championship after emerging on top of the Metro-South Bay League standings in 2019 and the Metro-Pacific League standings during the 2021 spring season.
Returners include 2021 Metro-Pacific League player of the year Ryland Humphrey, first team all-league pick Emilio Lugo and second-team all-league selections Kai MacFarland and Hector Martinez. All are seniors, as is returner Ivan Galindo.
Sophomore Cannon Humphrey is the team’s impact newcomer.
The Trojans qualified as the No. 12 seed for the spring’s Division III playoff field, ending a 6-6 run with a first-round loss to fifth-seeded West Hills.
“We’re trying to make another run at taking the league banner and qualify for CIF and make it past the first round to a quarterfinal or even semifinal round,” CPHS coach Mark Esquivel said.
