TWp Notes: Day One of TISCA TX State High School Championships

Day one from Southlake, TX where the state’s high school water polo championships are underway.

• St. Mark’s, favorites among the boys, got off to a shaky start versus Clear Springs, surrendering a few easy goals. But the Lions recovered with some clamp-down defense to beat a game Clear Springs team in the first round. Before the game, Coach Mihai Oprea, a Romanian émigré, shared some of his harrowing experiences growing up in the former totalitarian state. “Hearing AK-47 fire in person is a lot different than hearing it on TV,” he said, referring to the street protests that led to strongman Nicolae Ceausescu’s demise in 1989. Within two years he had relocated the US and has since become a fixture in Texas prep water polo.
• Midway High School from Waco qualified second in TISCA’s West region last week and was rewarded with a first round match against a strong Woodlands team from Houston. The lopsided loss (17-1) hit team captain Chip Peeples hard even though the team was created only months ago. The team owes its existence to Peeples, who cajoled and rallied enough of his classmates to create the squad, according to coach Dan Marlin. Marlin called the team as “cohesive” as he’s ever been around. Both he and Peeples, a long-time swim coach, have now become advocates for the sport in the Waco area and are hoping to prompt Harker Heights High School, which has an excellent swim team and aquatic facilities, to join the fray next spring.
• West, TX is barely 30 miles from Midway High School and the recent fertilizer factory explosion that decimated West had its effects. “Everyone [associated with the team] knows someone who was affected by or killed in West, because of the first responders,” Peeples Marlin said.
• Despite some lopsided matches, completely understandable due to the inexperience of the teams from the West region, the quality of play has improved since 2012. One coach attributed it largely to the Dallas region, whose club teams are growing and improving. Meanwhile in the Houston area, coach Scott Slay’s club, Viper Pigeon, could have as many as 400 members this summer, according to him. One of his recent coaching additions is former Baytown Sterling standout and USC player Zayne Belal.