Two local high school water polo standouts brought home gold medals from the UANA Youth Pan American Games in Trinidad & Tobago.
Cassidy Miller of San Marcos and Abigail Hendrix of Santa Barbara High were members of the USA Women’s Youth National Team that dominated the competition and won the championship.
Team USA defeated Canada, 14-5, in the Gold Medal match in Couva, Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday.
The Americans allowed only 27 goals in seven tournament matches while pouring in 150.
Miller scored nine goals and Hendrix tallied four. Both players are in their senior year of high school and are members of the 805 Santa Barbara Water Polo Club.
Jenna Flynn of Team USA was named the MVP and Maya Avital was the top goalkeeper. Avital made 11 saves in the final and Flynn scored five goals. She had 38 in the tournament.
The U.S. beat Peru (25-5), Trinidad & Tobago (27-2), Brazil (22-2), Argentina (27-8) and Canada (13-2) in the preliminary round, defeated Brazil (22-4) in the semifinals and Canada (14-5) in the final.
The U.S. Men’s Youth Team also won the gold medal, beating Brazil, 19-8. Nico Tierney was named the MVP.
— Noozhawk Sports Editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.