By Congrats to St. Thomas Aquinas boys and Gulliver Prep girls for winning water polo state championships today!
— FHSAA (@FHSAA) April 27, 2013
They don’t waste time in Florida.
High school district water polo tournaments began on April 15 with nearly 60 teams each in the boys’ and girls’ brackets, and by April 27 the champion is crowned. So it happened last Saturday in Miami where Gulliver Prep shocked favored Ransom Everglades in their own pool to win the girls’ final, 9-8. RE had been the class of the state for the entire year. And with that home pool advantage preordained it was widely thought they’d win their fifth championship in a row. But the Raiders frustrated Ransom’s offense, double- and triple-teaming Chelsea Johnson, considered the strongest player in the state. Gulliver returns to the pinnacle for the first time since 2008, and the championship remains in Miami as it has since 2005.
 |
| St. Thomas Aquinas (@paolariosxx) |
Meanwhile, Belen Jesuit and St. Thomas Aquinas entered the boys’ championship on nearly equal footing. Belen had been unofficially ranked higher for several weeks. But the experienced Raiders, led by sophomore Eric Goldenberg, won convincingly by three in the end. The title is St. Thomas Aquinas’s first.
The top-ranked girls’ teams from Michigan and Illinois met at Rockford’s spring tournament this past weekend. Illinois’ top-ranked Fenwick of Oak Park, Il, took the tournament title with a two-goal win over Michigan’s number one ranked Rockford. Final score, 10-8. Lincoln Way Central (currently number five in Illpolo.com’s rankings) took third, and Okemos fourth.
Zeeland and Pioneer also participated and received coverage. Rockford maintains it’s top-ranking in this week’s Michigan Water Polo Association poll.
The TISCA (TX) state high school championships begin on Friday (you can see the results at TWp’s bracket tracker). St. Mark’s of Dallas and Clear Creek from the Houston area are considered the boys’ favorites, while the Clear Creek and Denton-Ryan (from the Dallas area) are among the girls’ favorites. Coverage by the press has been sparse this season, though Denton published a piece on its own qualification for the championship. The tournament also features a brand new set of qualifiers from the reconfigured West region, except for San Antonio holdover Alamo Heights, which earned top regional seedings for both their boys’ and girls’ squads. TWp will be there in Southlake watching and recording the action as it begins on Friday.
