Journal & Topics Media Group

NWC Polo Enjoys Fun California Experience


Northwest Chicago Water Polo Club (NWC) took three teams to the 2018 National Junior Olympics in California from July 21-24.

According to coach Tim Daniel (Conant boys water polo coach), this was the largest group of players they have ever brought, and the most successful. Of the 38 athletes spread over the three teams, 31 came from Dist. 211 or Dist. 214 schools. In addition to the tournament, the athletes observed practices at Pacific University and UC Davis, as well as trained with four local clubs: Big Valley, Napa Valley, Davis and American River.

The 16U team was coached by Joe Grzybek (Palatine boys water polo coach) and placed sixth in the 16U boys invite division. This team beat many California teams and each player gained experience. Overall, they went 4-5. The 16U team consisted of Shashwat Viswanath, Steven Dales, Damian Ezell, Srboljub Filipovic, Luke Hedstromm, Benjamin O’Connell, Patrick Rossetto, Oleksandr Antoniv, Spencer Urban, Michael Ingebritson, Jack O’Connell, Noah Lawson and Sean Warner.

The 18U Blue team was coached by Micah Koenig and George Mitchell, but unfortunately, they went 0-7 in the 18U boys classic division. The young team consisted of Nathan Allen, David Kim, Will Hamilton, Ridgen Atsatsang, Kevin Ehrenstrom, Kyle Martin, Samuel Adame, Sebastian Lekas, Dmytro Khomyak, Mikhail Nikiforov, James Steininger, Michael Bland, Michael Hahn and Zachary Bilimoria.

“Though they did not produce a victory, the boys showed considerable improvement throughout the week,” Daniel said.

The 18U Red team, coached by Daniel, went 2-5 over seven games and finished in the top 20 of the 18U boys championship division. The team consisted of Harris Dibek (Conant), Brendan Chang (Glenbrook South), Carson Jess (Conant), Ryan Gustafson (Schaumburg), Christian Snopek (Conant), Bryan Cho (Conant), Alexander Hirjoi (Conant), Adam Hudson (Lincoln-Way East), Jake Lydon (Conant), Noah Schor (Lincoln-Way East), Christian Zukowski (Fremd) and Ryan Meyers (Glenbrook South). They won their final game 15-7 over Moose WP.

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