Laguna poloists headed to Junior Olympics

Mike Sciacca

Three teams of Laguna Beach athletes will guarantee that the city

will be well-represented at the Junior Olympics water polo tournament

in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Laguna is sending a boys 18-and-under and 16-and-under team to

Florida.

In addition, six members of Laguna’s girls water polo team will

play for TRAP, a local club team, at the Junior Olympics.

The two boys teams departed Thursday for Fort Lauderdale. The

girls are scheduled to leave on Tuesday. The tournament begins

Saturday and runs through Aug. 1

“We’re looking forward to having a great trip,” Laguna Coach Rick

McKee said. “This tournament gives us the opportunity to get more

playing time, to get away and play teams we normally wouldn’t play

during the school year.”

Forty-three teams from across the nation will compete in both the

boys 16-and-under and 18-and-under divisions.

Matches will be played at various high schools throughout the Fort

Lauderdale area, as well as at Florida State University.

Each team is guaranteed to play six matches.

Ironically, both Laguna boys teams will travel to Fort Lauderdale

and open the tournament Saturday against Los Angeles-area teams.

The 16-and-under team will take on La Canada, and the 18-and-under

team will battle the Los Angeles Water Polo Club.

As of Wednesday, McKee had not received the girls’ match schedule.

“What I’m hoping this experience will give us is the chance to

play better as a team,” McKee said. “I have no expectations of

winning this thing but an underlying expectation of playing well

together. This is a great opportunity to gain some experience for the

upcoming season.”

The 18-and-under boys team heads to Fort Lauderdale riding some

momentum.

Last weekend, the team bested 19 high school teams from the

Southern California area to win the talent-laden Santa Barbara

Tournament.

Laguna went 5-0 in match play.

“I thought the boys did a great job and played really, really

well,” McKee said. “They were very strong and played extremely well

as a unit.”

The Laguna teams will have some time off upon their return from

Fort Lauderdale, then begin Hell Week on Aug. 23, McKee said.

The Laguna girls playing for TRAP are Kat Gordon, utility; Breanna

Duplisea, two-meter defender; Jessica McKee, utility; Hayley Simon,

driver; Brittnay Forrest, driver; Celia Huling, driver.

The Laguna boys 16-and-under team is Anthony Ackley, utility; Sean

Dorse, two-meter defender; Brad Fair, driver; Mike Giangeruso,

driver; Pierre Masson, two-meter defender; Nathan McConnell, utility;

Max McDonald, driver; Max Munoz, utility; River Meyers, driver;

Garret Sauls, driver; Kevin Westlake, utility; Max Miller, driver;

Clifton Roger, utility; Chase Johnson, goalie; Warren Johnson,

goalie.

The Laguna boys 18-and-under team is Cameron Brinkman, two-meter;

Bret Burge, goalie; Cedric Channels, driver; Mike Vick, two-meter

defender; Ryan Fair, utility; twins Trevor and Jeremy Frimond,

drivers; Kelan Hurley, driver; Adam Kaplan, two-meter defender; Brett

Landrum, first-year player; Peter Phelps, utility; Kirk Westlake,

goalie.