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Dan Albano. Sports HS Reporter.

// MORE INFORMATION: Staff Mug Shot taken August 26, 2010 : by KATE LUCAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER.

If Orange County’s most spacious pools seem more crowded than usual the next week or so, fear not: it’s just the arrival of the nation’s largest youth water polo tournament.

Starting on Saturday, USA Water Polo’s Junior Olympics roll into 24 high school pools along with the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center, UC Irvine, Fullerton College and Saddleback College.

More than 9,000 players and 700 teams – both records – are set to compete in the tournaments for boys, girls and co-ed teams, the Huntington Beach-based federation said.

The boys tournaments, featuring several strong contenders from Orange County’s water polo hotbed, start first and conclude with finals on Tuesday.

In the 18-and-under tournament, Mater Dei’s club team, Regency, is the top seed and the two-time defending champion. The group will be comprised mostly of the Monarchs’ squad for the fall along with alumni Nick Lavayen, Matthew Payne and Spencer Carroll.

Mater Dei captured the summer high school state championships July 19 behind Luke Wyatt, Jackson Seybold, national team player Thomas Dunstan and goalie Nolan Strout.

“There’s a lot of great teams,” Regency coach Chris Segesman said. “We went to (the) Ironman (Super Final) and saw Stanford and Lamorinda (of Lafayette) and we’ve played SOCAL (of Tustin) and CHAWP (of the Inland Empire). And Orange County (Water Polo Club), we’ve played several times.

“It’s going to be a really good tournament. It doesn’t matter what you are (seeded) going into the tournament, you’re going to have to play well on Day 3, Day 4.”

In the boys 16-and-under tournament, Huntington Beach-based Vanguard, Northwood and SOCAL are among the teams to watch.

The girls competition begins July 29 and runs through Aug. 2.

Lake Forest-based SET is seeded first in the girls 16-and-under division while Santa Barbara holds the top spot in the girls 18-and-under division.

For more information, go to www.usawaterpolo.org/juniorolympics