Youth water polo: CMAC triumphs again

The Costa Mesa Aquatics Club youth water polo team went three for three to win the Northwood tournament.

CMAC continues to make a name for itself in the youth club scene with victories over SOCAL, United and San Clemente Saturday. In the Northwood summer series the young club faced tough opponents in each of its games and played to win, and win it did.

In the first game of the tournament CMAC faced SOCAL, one of the top clubs in Orange County. The CMAC team had a special-guest coach in two-time Olympian Jeff Campbell, who was on the U.S. Olympic Water polo team in Seoul, Korea in 1988 when it won the silver medal and again in Barcelona, Spain in 1992 when Team USA finished fourth. Campbell’s son, Stuart, plays for CMAC and when one of its coaches fell ill, Campbell was more than happy to step in and coach the team to its first victory of the day, a 10-1 win.

For the second game, Jose De La Jara, the club director coached the team to an 8-2 victory over United.

For the final game, San Clemente came out strong, but CMAC prevailed, 13-7, under the direction of coach Kimmy Morrison. It was a challenging tournament and CMAC played all three games with only seven players, meaning it had no substitutions and every player played every minute of the tournament.

The team consisted of Stuart Campbell, Mikoto Kenney, Kevin Johnson, Teak Zachary, Landen Martinez, Sey Currie and Blake Brunning.

“The team came out and played to win each game, they gave 100% and their efforts proved successful,” Campbell said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the kids.”

— Reader submission