USA Water Polo Junior Olympics begin
The USA Water Polo Junior Olympics, which start Saturday at pools across Orange County, are the largest age group water polo tournament in the nation.
Session One, which runs Saturday through Tuesday, features teams in 12-and-under, 14-and-under, 16-and-under and 18-and-under boys’ age divisions, plus 10-and-under girls competition. Session Two, which runs July 30 through Aug. 2, has 10-and-under mixed, 12-and-under girls, 14-and-under girls, 16-and-under girls and 18-and-under girls’ action.
For local 18-and-under boys’ teams from CdM Aquatics and Newport Beach Water Polo Club, the Junior Olympics are also a great opportunity for great competition before the high school season commences. CdM and Newport Harbor are high school programs that like to keep their players together year-round, which means they can be a bit undermanned going against all-star club teams at Junior Olympics.
Still, Newport and CdM are both in the championship division for JOs after qualifying seventh and eighth, respectively, from the Southern Pacific Zone. The top eight qualifiers advanced to the championship tournament, which features 12 pools of four teams.
No. 25-seeded Newport Beach will play No. 24 Thunder Water Polo Club of Texas in its first game Saturday at 7 a.m., at El Dorado High. No. 27-seeded CdM plays No. 22 Bruin of Los Angeles in its first game Saturday at 9 a.m., at Foothill High.
Each team will have at least two games on the first day. The goal on the first day is to advance to the platinum division (top 24). The bottom 24 teams from the championship tournament will play in the gold division
CdM, in particular, has shown it can do well at Junior Olympics. Last year, CdM’s 18Us lost two of their first three games to drop to the gold division, yet ended up winning the title in that division after beating 680 Drivers, 13-11, in the gold-medal game at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton.
Two years ago, the last time that Junior Olympics were in Orange County, CdM’s 18-and-unders advanced to the lower “classic” tournament championship match before losing to top-seeded South Coast in a shootout.
Both teams do have players who are participating on other clubs at Junior Olympics. CdM incoming junior Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt is playing for Del Mar, which is the top-seeded team in the 16-and-under championship tournament. Turnbow-Lindenstadt recently earned Best Offensive Player honors in the 16U age group at the Ironman Water Polo League Super Final.
CdM incoming junior Tamir Avital is playing for SOCAL, which is seeded ninth in the 16U tournament at Junior Olympics. If both Del Mar and SOCAL win their games Saturday, the teams could face each other on Sunday morning.
Newport Harbor incoming junior Ryan Hurst is playing for Huntington Beach-based Vanguard, which is seeded second in the 16U field behind Del Mar.
Among other local teams competing in the top championship division, CdM has a team seeded 23rd in the 16U boys’ field. Newport Beach’s 14U boys are seeded fifth, and the club’s 12U boys are seeded fourth. CdM’s 12U boys are seeded 20th.
Costa Mesa Aquatics Club has three boys’ teams entered into Junior Olympics, in the.10s, 14s and 16s. The 14-and-under boys are seeded fifth in the classic division.
The Costa Mesa Aquatics 16-and-under boys’ team, seeded 10th in the classic division, features many of the same players who two years ago won gold in the 12U classic division in Orange County, CMAC director Jose De La Jara said.
