Artists water polo records best showing in Hawaii

With the boys’ team earning a fourth-place finish and their female

counterpart placing fifth overall, the Laguna Beach High water polo

program returned home this week with its best-ever showing in the

Hawaiian Water Polo Invitational 18 and Under tournament.

The 34th annual summer event, which attracted teams from across

the nation as well as a few international squads, concluded with play

at the University of Hawaii last weekend.

BOYS

Laguna Beach won four games en route to a fourth-place tournament

finish.

Despite a dramatic comeback in the final quarter last Saturday,

the Artists fell to La Morinda, 4-3, in a third place game played at

the University of Hawaii. Three days earlier, Laguna Beach had scored

one of the tournament’s big upsets by defeating top-seeded La

Morinda, 6-1, at Punaho High.

Laguna Beach had pieced together a four-game win streak en route

to the fourth place finish by beating Hawaii-B,11-5, in another match

played at Punaho High. That win concluded Laguna Beach’s first round

bracket play as the Artists improved to 4-0-1, good for first place.

Other wins during that streak included a 14-3 route of Bainbridge

Club of Washington, the 6-1 win over La Morinda and 6-2 over Santa

Margarita. They opened the tournament with a 4-4 tie against

Coronado.

With the summer season now complete, the boys’ team begins “Hell

Week” on Monday, beginning at 6:30 a.m. Two-a-day practices will be

held daily at the school pool. The Artists’ first scrimmage for the

upcoming 2002 season will take place at 2 p.m. Sept. 3. Teams

involved in the scrimmage include Foothill and Riverside Poly.

GIRLS

Laguna Beach concluded the tournament last Friday with a 4-1

victory over Harvard-Westlake at the University of Hawaii. Other

tournament wins came against Club TED of Palo Alto, 11-5, Modesto,

5-3 and Coronado, 7-4.

The Artists ended tournament play with a 4-1 record, their lone

loss being an 11-5 setback to eventual tournament champion Commerce.