By * A top former collegiate coach told TWp earlier this season that any of the five best men’s college teams could beat each other on a given day. That observation has held form, most recently exemplified by Stanford’s “surprising” win over second-ranked UCLA last Saturday. (The rare loss puts the Bruins oddly at 0-1 in MPSF conference play.) With Pacific entering the ranks of the elite, backed by quality wins over Cal and Stanford, an NCAA championship may genuinely be up for grabs this fall. Prying the title from dangerous USC will be challenging, and our coaching source tells us that Cal is (barely) the weakest of the top five. But the near-parity among the elite men’s collegiate teams could provide more drama this coming championship season than observed in recent years.
* The boys of Greenwich High School in Connecticut are on another tear with an unblemished record this fall. The Big Red dispatched Navy Athletic Club in the final of their own Cardinal Tournament on Saturday, 10-4, after defeating St. Benedict Prep from New Jersey, and DC’s Gonzaga College High School in the opening rounds.
* The stunned reaction of Johnny Hooper, Harvard-Westlake boys’ sharpshooter, after Mater Dei rallied from a surprising four goal deficit to defeat the Woverines on October 15, exposed the raw emotions of a team fully expecting to derail the Monarchs’ 90-plus-game winning streak. The two could meet again in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championships next month. But a more imminent opportunity looms at the North-South Challenge in Northern California’s Atherton. Mater Dei and Harvard-Westlake received the top two seeds among Southern California teams, while Sacred Heart and Miramonte will lead the charge for the North. The Gators of Sacred Heart made some noise earlier this month defeating SoCal powerhouse Newport on the way to second place at the S&R Sport Invite. Sacred Heart fell to Harvard-Westlake in the final of that tournament, 15-8.
* Georgia kicked off a sequence of state high school water polo championships by crowning two victors a weekend ago. Ohio is next. Its North and South regional tournaments are complete and the state championship brackets have been set. Upper Arlington and Thomas earn are the girls’ top seeds; St. Xavier and Thomas, the boys’. The State tournament takes place as Mason High School October 25-26.
* News from Long Beach, CA, where progress on replacing the legendary Belmont Plaza facility is being reported. A temporary pool may be in place as early as the end of October while the three-year (or more) effort to build a permanent replacement goes through required budgeting and regulatory processes. While in the very early stages of planning, a the permanent solution is estimated to cost $60 million “or more.”
