Stanford club boys, girls take aim at nationals Stanford club boys, girls take aim at nationals (June 27, 2003)

Qualifying for National Junior Olympics continues this weekend with the local girls in Moraga and boys set to battle in Berkeley

by Rick Eymer

Both the Stanford 18-under boys and girls water polo club teams will try to join their younger counterparts in qualifying for the National Junior Olympics this weekend.

The boys' team will open pool play on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at the University of California.

The girls' team opens play on Saturday at Campolindo and Miramonte high schools in Moraga.

The boys' 16-under will also try to qualify beginning Saturday at Cal.

The boys' 14-under and 12-under teams qualified for the Junior Olympics, which will be contested in Orange County beginning July 30, in tournaments last weekend.

The boys' 14-under A team finished third in its qualifying tournament while the 14B team was ninth. The boys' 12A team won its tournament.

The Stanford girls' 14-under and 16-under teams won their respective Pacific Zone qualifying tournaments.

The boys' 18A team features four players from Sacred Heart Prep: Carter Brutschy, Brandon Child, Ian Simon and Chris Whittam. Ryan Fortune, Chris Ludwick and Tayson Siegal hail from Palo Alto, while Taylor Wells, Joe Nawas, Alex Seipp and Steven Wright are from Menlo School. Gunn is represented by Siddharth Menon and Justin Wong. Ben Cooper and Mike McCafferey played at St. Francis.

The Stanford A team is in the same bracket as San Francisco A and Lamorinda B. Semifinals will be held on Sunday beginning at 11:20 a.m. with the championship match scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

The Stanford B team will play with De Anza A and Marin. The team includes Lee Anderson, Eddie Avakoff, Tammer Barkouki, Seth Bowles, Johnny Dorsey, Paul Esber, Tom Harmon, Spencer Healy, Patrick Keelin, Kyle Murao, Pat Norton, Mark Powlen, Chris Rak, Bofa Sakai, Zac Sandy, and Kevin Seiff.

Menlo School is well represented on the girls' 18A team by Hailey Agnew, Elizabeth Balassone, Amy Gardner, Jenna Green, Kelsey Haley, Elisa Kim and Jessica Lee. Palo Alto's Remy Champion and Emma Feeney and Castilleja's Emily Brown are also on the team along with St. Francis' players Molly Hayes, Natalie O'Farriell and Dana Saign.

Hayes, a Menlo Park resident, earlier was named to the Women's Youth National Team, which will play in the Commerce Cup in Los Angeles and the Dennis Fosdick International Youth Cup in Moraga.

The Stanford girls' 18B team is comprised of Nicole Afflerback, Tope Amos, Shelley Barnea-Smith, Sara Barrantes, Kristen Barta, Kristina Chang, Ellen Fitzmorris, Faith Goss, Lauren Keeley, Ashley Kendall, Erica Magill, Christina Partridge, Jennie Smith, Jessica Urhausen, Cecilia Viggiano and Tanya Wilcox.

The boys' 16-under program has three teams attempting to qualify this weekend in Berkeley.

The 16A team is in the same bracket with Soquel, De Anza B and Lamorinda B. Team members include Ben Hohl, Matt Hudnall, Kyle Hudson, Dave Bargadda, Brandon Johnson, Arjan Ligtenberg, Dylan Mobley, Michael Orton, Travis Read, Jimmie Sandman, Tyler Smith, Ryan Stanley, Andy Suiter, Doug Wigley, Matthew Wilson.

The 16B team is paired with De Anza A and Marin and team members include Ian Bausback, Michael Borchick, Samuel Elchert, Kyle Gertridge, Dietrich Graumann, Pete Howard, Matt Johnson, Connor McColl, Devin More, Chris Rochester, Jack Rossi, Steve Sepanloo, Eric Stewart, Nick Westrum, Stephen Wong and Zachary Zwarenstein.

The 16C team will play Lamorinda A and San Francisco in its bracket. Team members are Nate Anderson, Randy Ang, Eric Berlin, Campbell Browne, Robert Cameron, Kevin Deggleman, David Grauer, Charlie Greene, Gregor Horstmeyer, Jeff Kaufman, Michael Marino, Blake Rosendin, Nick Rouse, James Snyder, Mike Sorgenfrei, Stucky Stucky, Eric Vallone, Bubba Weiner and Dylan Wengert.

Members of the boys' 14A team, which qualified last week, are Scott Platshon, Chris Preston, Josh Minnis, Tim Norton, Brad Rollinson, Tom Avery, Alex Avery, James Balassone, Tom Cole, Matt Gordon, John Strohm, and Mark Hudnall.

The boys' 14B team, ninth in the qualifying tournament, is comprised of Janne Rapakko, Alex Esber, Will Argramonte, Tim Wenzlau, Andrew Child, Gerrard Clark, Leo Robinton, Spencer Fletcher, Michael Fortune, Max Frye, Mikey Howard, Michael Bausback, Christof Wessbecher, Casey Rose, Andrew Kim, Matt Persons.

The boys' 12A team, which won its qualifying tournament, is comprised of Scott Platshon, Aaron Johnson, James Balasone, Mark Hudnall, Jamie Nakamura, Kielan Crow, John Butler, Connor Still, Cody Bickham, Greg Fleischut, Graeme Radlo, Sutton Cowperthwaite, Alex Whittam, Jed Springer, Sam Hyrne, Lucas Fodor, and Will Harmon.