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- Texas’ high school championships returned to the University of Texas in Austin just two years after the it was last there. Each year one of the four regions is granted the rights to host the tournament. This year is the South Region’s turn, yet they chose to locate it in Austin, a three-hour drive from the area. Tournament director, and Clear Creek High School coach Anne Woolweaver cited the ease of working with UT as the main reason it is favored over potential Houston-area facilities. The 2015 tournament is slated for a West Region host, making it likely it will return to Austin yet again.
- Roving water polo ambassador Genai Kerr can’t escape the notice of Texas youth, many of whom attended one of Kerr’s many camps and clinics and now unabashedly request photos and advice on the pool deck. Kerr served as an assistant for Felix Mercado at Brown last fall but will not return for a second season. He will hold yet another free clinic on Saturday for 6th and 8th grade athletes.
- Observers are saying that the boys’ championship is St. Mark’s to lose, and their opening round matches did not disappoint; the average margin of victory was 14 goals with plenty of playing time for their deep bench. The Lions face The Woodlands in the semi-finals and are queued up to play defending champs Clear Creek in the final assuming the Wildcats can handle the upstarts from Southlake Carrol. Clear Creek defeated St. Mark’s in last year’s semi-finals in what many have said was the best match of 2013.
- The girls’ competition appears to be slightly more open, though coaches have told us that Baytown Sterling is expected to repeat as champions. Allie Hill has taken over the squad after TJ Markeweicz’s departure for his alma mater, Clear Lake. The semifinals are an all-Houston affair with Cy Creek facing Clear Creek and St. Agnes taking on Baytown Sterling.
- Boys’ teams from the Dallas area are gaining on those from Houston. Two North Texas teams have earned a spot the final four, with St. Mark’s favored to win it all and Southlake Carroll much improved over last year. That gain parallels demonstrable improvement by West Region teams overall. In 2013 first round matches the teams from that recently reconstructed area between Waco and San Antonio averaged a 14 point margin of loss. In 2014 that figure has been cut to 10, an improvement of nearly 30%.
