Water Polo 2011

M

mukisa

New member
With summer workouts getting underway, and club action starting to pick up, I wanted to get the conversation started on the 2011 Water Polo season.

Top players?
Top teams?
Final 4 predictions?
Surprises?

Lets get this rolling.
 
 
It may be the same 4 but UA will win. They have alot coming back plus a strong JV team from last year. They will be the fastest team with the best swimmers and they have the best returning goalie. So it may be the same top 4 but UA will finish first.
 
rjones said:
It may be the same 4 but UA will win. They have alot coming back plus a strong JV team from last year. They will be the fastest team with the best swimmers and they have the best returning goalie. So it may be the same top 4 but UA will finish first.
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They did not beat the third place team out of the "North" last season. Again best of luck.
 
Since I have no dog in this hunt now, Milford wins in 2011. St. C's Max Harath, player of the year. Final four, Milford, St. F, St. C, Mason.
 
I think the St. Charles boy graduated...as did most of their key players. I'm not sure they'll have enough to make it back to the top.
 
Some Rosters

I went through the South Region's rosters, deleted graduating players, and updated the list for this coming season. No new players were added. I tallied up the graduated players, returning upperclassmen (anyone listed as a junior or senior), goalie situation, and 2010 finish. Here you go...

GLENOAK

NAME GRADE CAP #

MAXWELL HAGUE 12 1 / 20
TYLER MONNOT 12 6
HAYDEN KANAM 12 7
ANDREW RIBBE 12 9
MIKE DePIETRO 11 10
CAMERON DANNER 12 12
JAMES RUSSO 11 21


Graduated: 4
Upper Classmen: 7
Goalie: Returning senior
2010 Finish: 6th at South Regional

MASON HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP #

BRYCE ROMANCHEK 12 1A
ANDREW MARTINEZ 12 3
DREW MANGUIAT 11 14
CORY SINGLETON 12 18
BRAD LEBLING 12 23
ERIC HILDEBRANT 12 24

Graduated: 12
Returning Upperclassmen: 6
Goalie: Graduated / 1st year starter
2010 Finish: 3rd in South Regional


MILFORD HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP

NICK BROWN 12 1 / 9
JOEL KEEFER 11 2
ALEX FRANK 12 3
BRUCE RICH 11 4
ZAK WOODSON 12 6
JACOB YOEST 10 8
JOSH MONTGOMERY 11 11
NICK WARWAVESYN 11 12 / 1A
THOMAS PRUS 12 13
BEAU ROBINSON 12 14
GARRETT BYRD 10 15
JANSEN UTECH 10 16
ANDREW McDARTY 12 17
ALEX HAHN 10 18
DAVID MATULIS 12 19
JOSH FRITZ 10 20
BRENDAN SULLIVAN 12 21
MITCH CONNOR 11 23
RUSSELL HAUSFELD 11 24

Graduated: 3
Returning Upperclassmen: 14
Goalie: Senior – 3 year starter
2010 Finish: 4th at States


NEW ALBANY HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP

PHIL SEMOYER 11 1
MAXWELL GLICK 10 2
ZACHARY BERKS 12 4
COREY ZIEGLER 12 5
JOHN ANGELL 11 8
BRENDAN MURPHY 10 9
FREDERICK JENNY 12 10
NICHOLAS DEPINET 12 11

Graduted: 5
Returning Upperclassmen: 6
Goalie: Junior – started last year
2010 Finish: 6th at South Regional


PRINCETON HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP

DAN MORGAN *** 12 1
MALCOLM MATTHEWS 10 1A
NICK WALZ 12 2
DYLAN DYKES 11 3
NATHAN STEINMETZ 11 4

PATRICK BONNELL 12 6
CHARLIE CHEN 12 7
VINCENT MAZZONE 12 8
MARK BARGER 12 12
ERIK SPRAUL 12 13
ANTOINE BUISSON 11 14
DUSTIN DYKES 10 15
COLIN ROBLIN 10 16
MARSHALL BOHLANDER 11 17
JAKE MAZZONE 10 18
JACOB WHITE 12 19
DJ SVENSSON 10 20

Graduated: 2
Returning Upperclassmen: 12
Goalie: Senior – started as Junior
2010 Finish: 4th or 5th at South Regional (forgot who won between them and Sycamore)


SYCAMORE HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP

MIKE RICHTER 12 1A
STEPHEN IOAS 11 2
DREW HUGENBERG 12 5
HAYDEN HORNER 12 8
ZIM ZIMMER 12 13
AARON ABRAHAM 11 14
CHARLIE FRY 11 15
BRENDAN GIRTEN 11 17

Graduated: 7
Returning Upperclassmen: 8
Goalie: Graduated / Senior 1st year starter
2010 Finish: 4th/5th at regionals (forgot who won between them and Princeton)


UPPER ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP

NICK SIEVERT 11 1 / 15
JOE CAMERUCA 11 2
ZACH NEWCOME 10 4
GEOFF DICKHAUT 11 5
ADAM DODSON 12 6
ANDREW RABE 12 7
MAX JELEN 11 9
JOEY LONG 11 10
DANNY SULLIVAN 11 11
SEAN NERI 12 12 / 1A
TRAVIS MARTIN 10 13
BEN MASTRUSERIO 12 18
NICK HEMLEBEN 10 19
THOMAS TRACE 10 20 / 1A
JOHN LEANZA 11 21
RYAN BAAS 10 22

Graduated: 6
Returning Upperclassmen: 11
Goalie: Junior – 2nd year starter
2010 Finish: 3rd at States


That takes care of the south Region.

On paper the 2 teams that made it to states last year return double digit upperclassmen and a goalie. Mason graduated the most with 12. Princeton took the fewest hits with graduating 2. Milford returns the most upperclassmen with 14. Milford has the most seasoned goalie with a 3rd year starter. Upper Arlington is the defending regional champion and placed highest at states from this region a year ago.

I was surprised with how many returning Jr/Sr there were across the board. 3 teams have double digit returning Jr/Sr groups. There will be a lot of experience in the water this year for sure.

Not my place to make predictions, so I wont. I will post North Regional Rosters in a day or so.
 
I do believe Max Harath is on his way to Gannon U. in Eire, PA. Great kid, very nice wish him all the best. In the South Milford appears to be the favorite but watch out for Princeton, they seem to be starting to figure out they have to play the game instead of grab, hold and scratch the opponent. If they learn how to handle the ball and look for the open man they could upset things. Right now on paper the Knights look to have the lead in the North the rest is up for grabs. Maybe this year the Knights will play more Ohio tournaments and folks will get to see them play. St Charles is working already to get prepared and they have the best coach in the state. The Worthington teams have some boys that have been playing for since before H.S. when they could waiting to step in and fill some gaps. Athough I am sure Reeder will missed a lot for the swim off and the defensive center that graduated was big asset to Thomas. Kilbourne could be the wild card in the North not much lost, goalie has a year under his belt, if they gel could be interesting. Plus with their coach having two teams that practice together varsity scimmage must be easy to set up. This should be a vaery interesting October.
 
WATERDAD said:
I do believe Max Harath is on his way to Gannon U. in Eire, PA. The Worthington teams have some boys that have been playing for since before H.S. when they could waiting to step in and fill some gaps. Kilbourne could be the wild card in the North not much lost, goalie has a year under his belt, if they gel could be interesting. Plus with their coach having two teams that practice together varsity scimmage must be easy to set up. This should be a vaery interesting October.
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Did not realize that Max was a senior, Gannon will be a good fit. TW will struggle this season. They graduated too many guys and will have to fill in with inexperienced young players. Kilbourne will improve with more lacrosse guys coming out and Callahan now a shooting senior and a fast sprinter as well.
 
North Rosters

As promised, here is what the North returns.

NAPOLEON HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP

BEN KUHLMAN 10 3
NICK MOSSING 12 4
TIM PELLTIER 11 7
CHAD REX 12 8
CASEY HAASE 12 9
AUSTIN MAHLMAN 10 10
ADAM CARROLL 11 11
ADAM SMITH 11 12 / 1A
JONNY SMITH 10 13
WILL GRENUNHAGEN 12 20
LUKE KOCH 12 22


Graduated: 4
Returning Upperclassmen : 8
Goalie: Graduated – 1st year starting Jr.
2010 Finish: 5th or 6th at North Regional


ST. CHARLES HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP
ZACH POLTOR 12 5
ALEX KOCHER 12 6
ANDREW HOFFMAN 10 7
TYLER GEORGE 11 8
CHRIS D’ANGELO 12 9
ROCKY BOWMAN 10 11
SAM ASLANER 10 13
SEAN O’LEARY 12 14
JOSH COHEN 11 15
ALEX KENDALL 11 16
DANIEL COGAN 12 18
DYLAN HAMMON 10 19 / 1B
CARL CALCARA 11 20 / 1A
NATTY PATTERSON 12 21
FRANZ KABELKA 10 22
KEVIN LAWLER 12 23
MAX PENN 10 24

Graduated: 7
Returning Upperclassmen: 11
Goalie: Graduated – either Jr. or Soph 1st year starter
2010 Finish: State Champions


SYLVANIA

NAME GRADE CAP

JAKE VLASNIK 11 3
AUSTIN LAZENBY 11 4
BRANDON BURZYNSKI 12 5
MICHAEL JENNINGS 11 7
JOHN COLLIER 11 9 / 1A
SAM MILLER 11 14
NOAH SAUNDERS 11 15
MICKEY McGOLDRICK 12 17
JARED BUCHER 12 18


Graduated: 7
Returning Upperclassmen: 9
Goalie: Graduated – 1st year Jr. starting
2010 Finish: 5th or 6th at regionals


THOMAS WORTHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP

COREY LAWELL 10 6
GEORGE DOYLE 12 7
JAMES MILLER 10 8
KIERAN FARRELL 10 10
MICHAEL FRANKLAND 11 13
MATTHEW REED 10 14
MASON ZUROVCHAK 11 15
ADAM WOLF 12 22
TRENTON HARPER 11 23


Graduated: 6
Returning Upperclassmen: 5
Goalie: Graduated – next in line not listed
2010 Finish: 3rd at North Regional


TOLEDO ST. FRANCIS HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP

MATT GUSTAFSON 11 2
DJ MACDONALD 12 3
CONNOR TRIMBLE 11 4
MATT ZIMMERMAN 12 5
CONNOR AOSSEY 11 6
JOHN BOOTH 11 8
DAN DiSALLE 12 13
ALEX DICKREDE 12 16


Graduated: 4
Returning Upperclassmen: 8
Goalie: Graduated – next in line not listed
2010 Finish: State Runner-Up


WORTHINGTON KILBOURNE HIGH SCHOOL

NAME GRADE CAP

LOU PFEIFER 12 2
KEELER CALLAHAN *** 12 3
MITCHELL GUIST 11 5
RIKU KAIDA 10 6
KEVIN DOERR 12 7
COLE DORAN 12 9
JARED GRUBAUGH 12 10
NICK BORTOLANI 12 13
BEN GREEN 10 14
NICK DARBY 12 18
CONOR LEMMON 12 19
JONATHAN HADDAD 10 23


Graduated: 3
Returning Upperclassmen: 9
Goalie: Graduated – next in line not listed
2010 Finish: 4th at North Regional


Most graduated: St. Charles / Sylvania - both lost 7
Most returning: St. Charles at 11
Goalie - ALL teams graduated a senior goalie. This is pretty interesting to me. Each team will be breaking a new keeper this year. This just says to me that whatever scores you can put on these teams in the 1st month of the season means nothing. As each 1st year starting goalie will take time to make an adjustment to the game.

North has a lot of story lines here. You have the defending state champs and how they respond, lots of graduated talent with opportunity for the next crop of kids ready to break out. Not a team has a returning keeper. Some of the non-state qualifying teams return a lot of players and could make a run at the final weekend.

No predictions here. But some interesting food for thought....

*from 2003-2008 the defending state champs failed to return to the state final 4. The 2009 Milford and 2010 UA teams are the last defending champs to return. Neither of those teams played in the state title game the following year (09 MHS 4th, 10 UA 3rd). - I don't recall prior to 2003...need more documents to have better info.
*Since the inception of the Regional Championship....EVERY State Champion was also a Regional Champion - save for 2010 St. Charles. (EDITED, again)
*Since 2000 we have had 6 different State Champions (UA, Thomas, Kilbourne, Milford, St. Francis, St. Charles)
*Since 2000 the North has 6 State Titles, and the South has 5.
*2007 Mason is the only non Milford/UA team from the south to play in a state title since 1988 Sycamore.

Have fun. God bless.
 
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preeder61 said:
hmmm, third place team up North dropped them twice . . .
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They did indeed. TW had a great team, and were the clear favorite to win the whole thing entering the year, its just too bad they peaked early and couldn't get out of their own region. The point is they had a great year as did SF, Milford UA and SC.
 
mukisa said:
As promised, here is what the North returns.

*Since the inception of the Regional Championship....EVERY State Champion was also a Regional Champion. (EDITED)
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I do believe that last year's State Champion was runner up at North Regional. St Francis walked out that one on top. The last game was an epic OT battle between TW and St. Charles, unless I'm confused on what happened.
 
WATERDAD said:
I do believe that last year's State Champion was runner up at North Regional. St Francis walked out that one on top. The last game was an epic OT battle between TW and St. Charles, unless I'm confused on what happened.
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That's correct. You're right....so st Charles is the only winner to be a runner up at regional. Nice catch.
 
The numbers on StF may be a bit deceiving as they do not include StF's JV players. If StF finds a goalie they will be tough to stop in the North. That said, just like last year the power was in the North Region with arguably the 3 best teams StF, TW, & SC, this year it looks in the preseason like the South will dominate. At this point look for Milford & UA in the title game. I give the knod to Milford based on their goalie. I don't think he played last year in the game for 3rd...otherwise the game would have been much closer, with perhaps a different result. Remember Milford gave StF all they could handle in the semifinal game before losing in OT.
 
Dutchman, you have everything right except the outcome. UA will prevail. Remember but for Rabe fouling out UA probably would have won it all last year with a first year goalie. He will be the top goalie this year and UA has alot back.
 
rjones said:
Dutchman, you have everything right except the outcome. UA will prevail. Remember but for Rabe fouling out UA probably would have won it all last year with a first year goalie. He will be the top goalie this year and UA has alot back.
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shoulda, woulda, coulda, jonesy! But wait, don't you have the 2011 player of the year back to Dominate. You forgot to add that prediction.
 
thedutchman said:
That said, just like last year the power was in the North Region with arguably the 3 best teams StF, TW, & SC, this year it looks in the preseason like the South will dominate. At this point look for Milford & UA in the title game. I give the knod to Milford based on their goalie.
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I think you are giving Mason too much credit. (if I read you right and you are implying that the top 3 teams in the state will come from the south) I'd also say you are not giving St. F nearly enough credit. They may have lost the least of any of the final four teams from last year. They have a first team all state player in Zimmerman back, DiSalle will be faster than anyone else in the water, and MacDonald should have a break out year playing Carmony's role.

I really expect a Milford v. St Francis final. (and hope it is as exciting as their semi was last year.) The only reason I am picking Milford is their experience in the goal and the lack of experience for St. F
 
I have some work to do on it yet, and if anyone is interested in helping, please let me know...but we would like to get a website for Ohio High School Water Polo this year.

Things we'd like to have on there:
1. Schedules / Results of all tournaments
2. State rankings - weekly/bi-weekly
3. Team links
4. Stats for players/teams

This is all to improve our publicity as a sport.

I am very excited to get a regular rankings things going, as well as having results and stats posted as well.
 
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Website would be great. No question that is the best way and most economical way to raise the profile of the sport. You might look to swimmeet.com as a model. I suspect that whoever runs that site could give you some ideas and pointers. I believe that it is based out of Cincinnati.
 
swimfan said:
Website would be great. No question that is the best way and most economical way to raise the profile of the sport. You might look to swimmeet.com as a model. I suspect that whoever runs that site could give you some ideas and pointers. I believe that it is based out of Cincinnati.
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Swimmeet.com looks great. I also really like the format of http://michiganwaterpolo.com/ - its pretty solid.
 
laxpower.com is a very good example of a statkeeping/ranking website.

Also, did any 2010/11 seniors commit to varsity teams for polo?
 
A website would be great. It would be fun to follow teams progress throughout the year for those of us out of the sport. As for early rankings, I look for a repeat title game. SC is very deep and talented and SF has speed to kill. Not sure what TW or has left. Despite Jones' arrogance, UA is bound to have a down year soon -seems like they have been in the final 3 or 4 every year, and didnt they lose a lot of seniors? Is Debeer taking over? PReeeder who is the 2011 dominant player you are referring to, or are you just poking Jones/UA again?
 
BOOYAH! said:
A website would be great. It would be fun to follow teams progress throughout the year for those of us out of the sport. As for early rankings, I look for a repeat title game. SC is very deep and talented and SF has speed to kill. Not sure what TW or has left. Despite Jones' arrogance, UA is bound to have a down year soon -seems like they have been in the final 3 or 4 every year, and didnt they lose a lot of seniors? Is Debeer taking over? PReeeder who is the 2011 dominant player you are referring to, or are you just poking Jones/UA again?
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Yes, just poking at rjones, but seriously Andrew Rabe could be the most dominate player this year. Big kid, fast. I think that deBear is taking over at UA. I will see him in a few hours and ask. I also think that UA's coach Jim Robert's son may be playing at Kilbourne this year. Will also find out for sure. TW will be hurting this year for sure, lots of experience graduating.

Follow-up note: Roberts will still be UA's coach with de Bear assisting and his son will be playing for Kilbourne, that will be interesting!
 
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South Regional Update

South Region Championships to be held at Upper Arlington this year due to Mason not hosting them. Mason will host states the following weekend though.
 
mukisa said:
South Region Championships to be held at Upper Arlington this year due to Mason not hosting them. Mason will host states the following weekend though.
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Wow! Playing in a shallow/deep pool could change things up a bit for the South Regional.
There was a rumor last season that the North Regional was moving to BGSU to play all deep water. Is this going to happen or just a pipe dream?
Isn't the North suppose to go back to Toledo this year to the shallow/even shallower pool?
 
WATERDAD said:
Wow! Playing in a shallow/deep pool could change things up a bit for the South Regional.
There was a rumor last season that the North Regional was moving to BGSU to play all deep water. Is this going to happen or just a pipe dream?
Isn't the North suppose to go back to Toledo this year to the shallow/even shallower pool?
Click to expand...

Good question on the BGSU location. I have not heard otherwise from the standpoint of it being hosted at a high school. I think the coaches would all love to play in an all-deep pool. The cost is and drive is a bit of an issue with it though. Cost is why OSU is no longer the state championship location. Quite frankly, I would love for regionals/states to be held at a college. I would love to play at Miami, OU, OSU, UC, BGSU, etc - as long as there is good seating available at the venue, I am in. It provides a much better pool for reasons we all know...but I also like that it can be a recruiting tool for playing in college too.

As far as UA hosting for regionals, and it going back to a shallow/deep situation. I have trained our goalies since Mason hosted regional/state in 2005 to not worry about shallow ends, as the games that matter don't use it. It definitely changes up the focus for regionals, but not for states. It will be a twist, and there will be a lot of on-the-bottom play going on, and push offs for counters, so it will be interesting. The more I think about it, the less I like it. We need to be like Michigan, and have all deep pools at all the high schools :)

Website will be purchased shortly, and I will begin work on development. I would like to have it up and running by the time the season starts. Once again, any ideas / help is welcomed. I could even put up a forum on there...and we could move our chats to that sight.
 
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