In the spirit of HS boys season officially starting next week I thought I’d get the ball rolling. Of course we’ll all be waiting for Jeff’s rankings but here are my thoughts:
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Newport Harbor- Coming off of an incredible season, Newport seems poised and ready to repeat their dominance from last year. With Connor Ohl, Kai Kaneko, Mason Netzer, Dash D’Ambrosia, and Geoff Slutsky returning they will be scary.
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JSerra- Young team with lots of potential. Will give Newport competition and will have Connor Colman and Jonas Ransford as key players. Excited to see the younger players such as Lars Knepper and Parker Johnson step up.
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CDM-Well drilled team that impressed during last HS season and kept the momentum during the club season. Nathan Simoncelli and Bryan Shapirshteyn will lead the line with depth as well.
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Santa Margarita- Lots of question marks but will look to surprise. Adding an elite coach with the talent of Evan Wu, Logan McGann, David Greenfield, and Tanner Gorman could be a recipe for success.
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Oaks Christian- A team coached by Kocur will always be a problem especially in late season polo. Jack Lansign is interesting as a lefty option in 2 meters and is surrounded by crafty players. Will always compete.
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Mira Costa- Strong senior class led by UCLA commit Flynn Guenther and Navy commit center Lucas Pearce. This is the year to step up and challenge some of the higher ranking teams.
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Loyola- Often left out of conversations, they’re bringing back a solid senior class and have some exciting young players such as Francesco Pintaric to add to depth. Expect some upsets from them and Healy will get the most out of them.
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Harvard Westlake- Bit of a rebuilding year for Grover but has some pieces for sure. Harry Siafaris is an exciting young center along with attacker Harrison Bowman. Won’t be as competitive as last year but will still be up there fighting.
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Foothill- Open team last year and I expect the same again this year. Navy commit John Bergstedt and speedster Ezra Nelson will look to lead the way. Won HS State Champs so don’t count them out.
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Mater Dei- As of right now we still don’t know who the coach will be but they do have some talented players such as Asa Chen and a good goalie in Morgan Crichton. Their success this year will be determined by how quickly the new coach can get them up and running.
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Buena- Made it to open division last year and look for them to improve on it. Jack Pointner will lead the team with some younger faces to help them. Bit of a question mark but wouldn’t be surprised if they won some big games.
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Yucaipa- Have been improving every year and this year I believe they will do the same. Have a young team that on the club side has been performing well. If they do make Open 12 teams again this year I see them getting one of the last spots or competing to be D1 champion.
My rankings will most likely be proved terribly wrong, but I think this will be a very competitive year of HS water polo and can’t wait to watch some games. Good luck to all teams.