Mustangs’ Thorsness leads autumn herd

Chris Yemma

Costa Mesa High boys water polo coach Tim Postiff regards junior Kyle

Thorsness as one of the hardest working kids he’s seen.

He said Thorsness isn’t afraid to put forth his best effort and

take on huge tasks. That’s why the younger players look up to him,

Postiff said.

Thorsness even started taking harder classes in school to be more

of a role model and have a better chance of getting into college,

because, after all, that is one of his main goals.

“[Postiff] made me take those harder classes,” said Thorsness.

“The first day of school he said, ‘Kyle, you’re in AP history.’ He

just told the teacher to put me in.”

Thorsness may not have had a choice in taking the harder classes

back then, but now he realizes he could reap the benefits of it in

the future. Since his freshman year, a different approach has

developed. He has learned things from Postiff and previous coach Bob

Shupp that apply not only in the classroom, but in the pool, as well.

“There’s always guys out there that don’t really care,” he said.

“I play my heart out, I try really hard. I’ve had other coaches come

up to me and tell me that and I’m really proud of it.”

This past season, Thorsness was the leading goal scorer for the

Mustangs. He totaled 132 goals over 25 games, an average of 5.3 goals

per game, while leading Costa Mesa to a Golden West League title and

the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs.

Costa Mesa defeated La Habra, 10-6, in the first round to advance

to the quarterfinals, an accomplishment not many observers thought

would happen. Thorsness scored four goals in that game.

“Nobody expected these guys to beat La Habra,” Postiff said. “La

Habra was a great team. This was a great experience to win a CIF

game.”

The Mustangs lost to Los Alamitos, 19-3, in the quarters Tuesday,

with Thorsness scoring two goals.

“He’s one of the best players I’ve coached,” said Postiff, who

finished his 12th season coaching high school water polo. “He’s a

natural player, his want to win is huge and he’s not afraid to take

the team on his back.”

Thorsness started playing water polo the summer between his

seventh and eighth grade. His older sister, Katie, played for Mesa

and talked him into playing. He played on an age-group team that fed

into the Costa Mesa water polo program.

During that time, then Shupp would come out and give pointers to

those young players, Thorsness said. And by the time Thorsness and

the other players got to high school, they were used to Shupp’s

coaching style, he said.

“I’ve improved a whole lot since then,” Thorsness said. “I look

back on those teams we lost to freshman year, and we had no problems

with them this year.”

With his senior season left, Thorsness will be the go-to guy next

season. He will also be in a leadership role, something that wasn’t

necessarily asked of him in 2004 because of multiple starting

seniors.

He said he plans to weight lift and play club water polo until

next season. He wants to improve his game, his moves, his quick shots

and add some finesse, he said.

And one more thing.

“I’d like a growth spurt,” he said. “All my cousins are really

tall. I want to get bigger.”