Huntington Beach’s girls water polo team posted 18 victories this past season and stayed ranked in the O.C. Top 10 all winter. But the Oilers also are proud of another number: five.
That’s the record number of college-bound players in the Oilers’ senior class.
Attackers Ally Long and Kalista Hyham signed with Wagner and Bucknell, respectively, while attacker Anna Borton (Siena College), utility Bella Vucurevic (Marist) and center Lauren Smith (Marist) have committed to schools.
“Winning games is great but seeing young kids go off and play in college will be great,” Oilers coach Mark Canner said. “It will be great to see 10 years down the road what they’ve accomplished outside of water polo.”
Four of the colleges are in New York while Bucknell is in Pennsylvania.
Borton agreed with Canner’s perspective that victories don’t always show up on a scoreboard. The Oilers hoped to record the first playoff victory in school history this past season but fell short with a loss in a CIF Division 1 wild-card game at Santa Barbara.
“It would have been nice to win but I think (playing in college) is the ultimate goal,” Borton said.
Hyham has played water polo for seven years and long aimed to reach the collegiate level. “It’s super fulfilling and I’m super excited for the next level,” she said.
Long said she didn’t start pondering college water polo until her freshman year of high school.
“When all my senior friends and the people I looked up to when I was a little girl started going off to college,” she recalled.
Vucurevic and Smith are excited that they’ll continue to be teammates at Marist. But the girls aren’t done playing together. The five seniors hope to unite with Huntington Beach Water Polo Club for the Junior Olympics this summer.
And they plan to stay in touch in college.
“We’ve made plans to meet up in the city,” Vucurevic said.
That’s New York City for the East Coasters.
“We’re taking over the East Coast,” Smith joked. “This year, we’ve come so far as a team.”
Please send water polo news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy on Twitter
