Another season of heated action in the pool awaits several local scholastic boys water polo teams.
At La Jolla High, the Vikings and head coach Tom Atwell lost nine seniors to graduation this past year, with top scorers Daniel Orloff going to Cal Berkeley and Sam Busby going to Pepperdine. The team’s best defender from a season ago, Gunther Gettlefinger, will be playing at Grossmont College.
With holes to fill, La Jolla will look to improve on its third-place finish in the league and the county last year behind perennial powers Coronado and Bishop’s.
“This year we have the opportunity to move up in the standings with Coronado down compared to years past,” Atwell said. “We will have to have great play out of goalie Will Choi (senior) and strong field play from Theo Lee (senior), Noah Orloff (junior), and our top offensive and defensive player, Peter Sefton (junior).”
Other athletes expected to contribute include Jake Allen (junior), Hunter Gettlefinger (sophomore) and Alex Arcidiacono (sophomore).
“We are hoping to finish in the top three and this group really believes they have a chance to make it to the final game,” Atwell added. “If they get there, look for them to give whoever they play a run for their money.”
Winning any league or CIF crown will likely go through The Bishop’s School once again. Veteran head coach Jim Fales and the Knights should likely be again in the mix come CIF time when all is said and done.
The Knights won their fourth consecutive CIF crown last season en route to a 26-4 overall record and going 17-0 in San Diego competition.
Bishop’s will be replacing a number of major contributors, including Nico Sardo (USC), who was the 2004 and 2005 SDCIF Player of the Year. Also moving on to the collegiate level were Nikhil Balaraman (Harvard), John Brictson and Wyatt Hinshaw (UC Santa Cruz), Robert Quick (Pepperdine), Connor Levoff (UC
Santa Barbara) and Connor Matzinger (UConn).
Looking to start a new chapter in Bishop’s storied program history will be Kevin May (2005 first team CIF/co-captain), Alex Pulido (2005 first team CIF/co-captain), Colby Rhodes, Sam Fiske and Robbie Chapman.
Newcomers to the squad include Scott Siegel, Cyrus Mojdehi, André Artomonov, Frank Hurst, Carl Larson, Zealan Hoover, Demian Tschirin and Justin Wolfe.
“We have a good mix of veteran players and capable underclassmen,” Fales said. “Look for this team to really jell in November.”
At La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) School, the Torreys and head coach Nate Heppner will be led by senior team captains Vivan Suri and Ronny Clausner.
Suri is a two-time returning team MVP and first-team all-league player, having scored 84 goals last season. Clausner had a breakthrough season in 2005, notching 51 goals.
Juniors Mike McKenna and Bobby Whitney are also returning varsity starters, and junior goalie Greg Wisenberg is coming off a 200-save season. According to Heppner, junior Justin Pierson has improved tremendously, and should add much needed speed to the varsity group.
LJCD opens play on Sept. 2 vs. Southwest.