By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
Three boys teams from Westside Aquatics participated in the USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics earlier this week in Orange County and one of them took the bronze medal by taking first place in the Classic division.
Photo: Robin Aronson
The 18U squad, coached by Kirk Lazaruk and consisting of Zach Senator, Gabby Feizbakhsh, Lucas Silva, Mitchell Kim, Brandon Epp, Jacob Lazaruk and Kian Lotfi, opened pool play with a 9-6 loss to C Cal, routed Moose Water Polo 17-2 in its second game, lost 11.6-11.5 in a shootout to Redlands Renegades, then beat San Diego Shores (12-9), Viper Pigeon South (14-3) and CA Republic SCB (10-4).
In the semifinals, Westside prevailed over La Mirada Splash, setting up a championship showdown against SC Tritons Red. Westside won 12-7 to take first place in the Classic (bronze) division.
Photo: Robin Aronson
Westside’s 14U squad, coached by Adam Blakis and Greg Outcalt and consisting of Maximo Speiser, Oliver Grant, Andrew Outcalt, Zeke Ramirez, Theo Trask, Stuart Brien, Earl Brien, Ben Schiff, Mikail Safragina and Zach Wunder, dropped its pool play opener to Elite 14-5, beat C Cal 10-5, lost to Gold Coast Aquatics 13-9, beat Academy 15-9, beat West Coast Aquatics 18-11, beat Pacific Polo 10-9 and won a rematch against West Coast Aquatics 10-6 in the semifinals.
The Classic (bronze) division final pitted the local squad against the Silicon Valley Outlaws. Westside rallied to tie the game in the fourth quarter but ultimately lost in a shootout.
Westside’s 16U squad, coached by Bart Gawboy and consisting of locals Will Schwerdtfeger, Sammy Speiser, Orson Spence, Matt Affeld, Quinn Godfredsen and Isai Elias, opened with a 14-12 victory over San Diego Shores, lost to Foothill Black 13-7, beat Trojan Gold in a shootout 8-5-8.4, lost to FLO 15-6, beat South Bay United (10-3), Del Mar (9-1) and CC Sharks (8-5) before falling to Elite 14-5 in the quarterfinals.
Westside fell to CHAWP Blue 12-7 in the fifth-place game of the Invitational division.
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