Essence of experience

Bryce Alderton

The outlook for Newport Harbor boys water polo this season is a

bit brighter that last year because Sailor second-year coach Jason

Lynch doesn’t have to worry about losing 10 seniors from the previous

season as he had to entering 2001.

“We should be pretty good, we have a lot of guys returning,” said

Lynch, of this year’s team. “Last year was my first and kind of a

rebuilding year after (Newport Harbor) won the title in 2000. We lost

10 seniors from that year, so last year we had all juniors and three

seniors in the program.”

The Sailors lost in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section

Division I playoffs last season to Harvard-Westlake, 13-5.

“It was successful for last year since we were young and

inexperienced and went to the quarterfinals,” said Lynch when asked

if he considered last year a successful season.

Lynch considers Harvard-Westlake one of the top three teams in

Division I along with Long Beach Wilson, whom the Sailors will open

this season against Sept. 17 at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

“Those are the top teams in CIF and then there’s a group of us

that go into the No. 4 spot such as El Toro, San Clemente, (Newport

Harbor) and Foothill,” Lynch said. “Right now we’re in the thick of

things.”

Lynch also included Corona del Mar and Servite, who both play in

Division II, as formidable opponents.

Newport Harbor’s boys summer water polo club team won the 16-team

Hawaiian Invitational tournament, beating Laguna Beach in the

semifinals and a Hawaiian team in the finals. Newport Harbor also

played against CdM, Harvard-Westlake and Foothill during the summer.

“(Hawaii) was a really great bonding experience and to do so well

was really nice also,” Lynch said.

Lynch has his top three players returning including seniors Nathan

Weiner and Ross Sinclair and junior Michael Bury, who helped the USA

Youth National B Water Polo Team bring home a bronze medal in the

World Youth Water Polo Championships in Brazil.

Bury scored four goals, including the game-winning score on a

four-meter shot with 40 seconds left in the team’s 11-10 win over

France. He also had six drawn ejections and one field block as the

U.S. went 3-2-1, to win the bronze.

The team, made up of 12 boys from across the U.S., competed

against international teams such as Brazil A, New Zealand, Argentina,

Brazil B and France. Brazil A took the gold medal while New Zealand

won the silver.

“(Bury) is definitely one of the strongest 2-meter men in Division

I in the county and he has improved,” Lynch said.

Joining those three will be seniors Jay Thompson, a two-meter

guard who transferred to Newport for last season from Riverside,

along with Charlie Hockenberry, Brent Armstrong, Gavin Schmidt, and

goalie Nathan McLain, who started last season but may be getting some

competition from sophomore Michael Robinson, who Lynch said “played

really well” filling in for McLain during the Hawaii tournament.

Juniors Andrew Belden, younger brother of former Sailor water polo

standout Peter Belden, Trevor Gregory, Morgan Laidlaw and Bryan Auer

along with freshman Clay Jorth round out the roster. Lynch said

people have compared Jorth to Peter Belden.

“He’s on that level, he’s playing a lot,” said Lynch of the

comparisons between Jorth and Belden. “His best quality is his

perimeter shooting.”

Lynch, who coached water polo at Costa Mesa for five years and at

Capistrano Valley for seven years, said it’s “very rare” for a

freshman to be playing varsity, but water polo age group programs

that have surfaced in recent years in the Newport-Mesa area have

allowed kids to begin playing water polo at younger ages.

“It’s definitely a key thing,” said Lynch of the youth water polo

programs. “Kids are now playing (water polo) before they get to high

school. I couldn’t get (a program) going at Capo Valley, but started

one when I was at Costa Mesa.”

This year Lynch has the help of Robert Grayeli, the CIF Division

II Co-Player of the Year in 1995 to help Costa Mesa High win the

Division II championship who first met Lynch when Lynch helped coach

the Mustangs, led at the time by Brian Kreutzkamp. Grayeli assisted

Lynch during the team’s summer club season and will assist Lynch with

the varsity team and Bill Barnett with Newport’s lower-level teams.

Newport’s freshman team has 25 members, which Lynch said is a

“huge class.”

“He brings a lot of enthusiasm and the kids really like him,” said

Lynch of Grayeli, who played collegiately at Pepperdine, and spent

six months in 2001 in Australia and New Zealand playing competitive

water polo.

Lynch is excited about coaching a program steeped in water polo

tradition.

“It’s nice to be a part of the tradition that’s here,” Lynch said.

“Water polo gets a lot of support from the community. Water polo is

pretty important as far as school and community go.”

Newport Harbor travels to CdM High for a scrimmage Sept. 14 before

the Sailors’ season begins three days later against Long Beach

Wilson.