Boys polo gains confidence from nonleague performance
by Styvalizh Uribe & Kia Harlan
photo by Kia Harlan
With a successful preseason, boys varsity waterpolo is hopeful about placing in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championships this coming season.
Boys waterpolo played Lakewood High School on Sept. 28, beating them, 16-2, in a non-league game. Spartans were victorious against Montebello Oilers, 22-11, on Sept. 26, becoming first in the Almont League.
“My dream for this season is for our team to play at our fullest potential. I feel we can improve our communication as a team and build better chemistry,” said Joel Estrada, JV senior.
“[We]…have a good number of solid players that can take over the game at any point, [but]…sometimes, multiple people drive down to the goal and it gets chaotic in the middle. It could have been avoided had we communicated when…going to drive.”
Against the Flintridge Prep Rebels, varsity and JV Spartans emerged victorious with scores of 19-10 and 10-8, respectively, on Sept. 24, away.
“Our greatest hope for this season is to win CIF. I feel we have the capability to compete at the caliber of play in our division […] with experience and the more we play, the better we will get,” said junior Rene Borja, varsity goalie.
Facing Diamond Bar Brahmas, varsity and frosh won, 13-2 and 7-3, respectively, while JV lost 9-5, home, on Sept. 18. With their first loss of the season, Spartans practiced to improve.
“We played and beat Yucaipa High, the number five team in our division, because we were better conditioned and out-swam them. A lot of it has to do with how hard the boys worked during practice and they push each other to get better,” said varsity coach David Argumosa. “The boys need to realize that we need to continue to work because we are only 12 games into the season and there’s still 16 games of polo before we can qualify for playoffs. Nothing is given to us, so we need to earn everything.”
Varsity won,14-11, as JV won,16-15, against the Claremont Wolfpack at home on Sept. 6.
With the boys waterpolo diving right in, they strive to make a splash in their season.