The Santa Barbara Premier Water Polo Club won a gold and a silver medal in boys competition at the USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics in Orange County.
The club’s 14-under “A” team captured the gold in the Classic Division, winning seven games without loss.
The 18U boys fell to Vanguard of Huntington Beach, 14-7, in the Championship Division final.
The 18s “A” squad defeated Kearns from Utah (27-1), Lamorinda (11-3), L.A. Athletic Club (8-5), L.A. Premier (9-6) and SHAQ (7-6 ) to advance to the national semifinals, where it knocked off Northwood Aquatics (15-11) in a decisive manner. Northwood included members of the CIF-Southern Section Division 1-champion Orange Lutheran team.
In the national title game before a huge crowd at the Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine, Premier ran into a hot goalie, fell behind early against Vanguard and was unable to make up the deficit. Vanguard featured 10 players who were on the Huntington Beach High team that lost to Orange Lutheran in the CIF final.
The Premier 18U A team members were Sawyer Rhodes, Miles Cole, Spencer Wood, Taylor Gustason, Jesse Morrison, Ben Cable, Dylan Elliott, Koss Klobucher, Adam Gross, Jack Rottman, Caleb Sandberg, Adam Fuller, Justin Barrios and Tommy Fellner. The team was coached by Paul Wilson and Ian Wood.
“These boys finish their club careers as one of the most successful boys groups ever to come out of Santa Barbara.” Coach Wood said. “They will continue their studies and compete for some of the top college programs in the country in the fall.”
14U A
The team had big wins against South Valley (19-1), Riverside (17-6), Admiral (11-7), South Bay United (12-6), Huntington Beach (13-10), Foothill (10-5) and beat Pride WPA (11-8) in the final to claim the gold medal.
The 14U A team members were Wyatt Pieretti, Alexander Reilly, Nicolas McDonald, Bronson Blix, Jackson Hamilton, Grant Mgoun, Daniel Goldberg, Jordan Hayes, Samuel Arshadi, Nathaniel Sweeney, Alec Svensson, Zander Meyer, Blake Lindblad and Ismeal Eltablawi
18U B
The 18U B team, comprised of all local rising high seniors, finished 15th in the 48-team Classic Division.
Despite having a small roster, notched wins against Longhorn Aquatics, Stanford C, Legacy, Del Mar B, Chelsea Piers and SD Shores B.
The 18U B team members were Sam Fuller, Matt Binckley, Jason Teng, Luke Peterson, Max Richardson, Jacob Castillo, Jack Phreaner, RJ Goligoski and Wyatt Stevenson. The team was coached by Hank Peterson.
16U A
The 16U team finished ninth in the Classic Division with an overall record of 5-2.
The team started with victories over Jungle Cat (15-4) and Northwood Red (16-5). It lost a very close match with South Bay United (10-9), but bounced back with a win over Pacific Polo (9-6). The next morning the 16s fell short to Tustin Irvine Patriot (12-9), and followed up with a win over 680 Blue B (14-6). In the ninth-place game, Premier defeated South Coast Red A (7-6).
The 16U A team members were Hunter Brownell, Peter Frisell, Trevor Ricci, James Oriskovich, Kyle Voulgaris, Adam Kubinyi, Henry Allen, Adam Coffin, Kellen Radkey, Connor Wilcox and Michael Criswell.
12U A
The 12U A team finished fifth in the Classic Division. The squad started off with three wins over Santa Cruz (18-2), SC Tritons (9-7) and OCWPC RED A (18-10). Vangaurd Silver B handed the 12U team its first loss (13-2). The boys rallied back with four more wins over Menlo Park (17-11), Commerce Aquatics (14-6), Westside Aquatics (10-6), and getting redemption on Vanguard Silver B with a victory in the fifth-place game (9-7).
The 12U team members were Jaxon Burford, Jerrad Burford, Cody Pearce, Samuel Eaton, Charlie Franzen, Carson Benedict, Landin Romo, John Shafer, Ian Moore, Gabriel Caballero-Munoz, Aden Bishop, Francisco Valladares, Jaden Moore, Sean O’Neill and William Schneider.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.