Water Polo

Brashears, Austin Perry, was killed in a van accident on May 12th 2012 near Taupo, New Zealand while studying abroad with Boston University (BU).  Austin was born April 16, 1991 in Los Alamitos, California.  He was raised in Huntington Beach (HB), where he graduated from Marina High School in 2009 with straight A's while playing varsity water polo and volleyball.  Growing up, Austin was active in his church, AYSO and the Boy Scouts of America, earning the rank of Eagle Scout.    Austin was a Junior at BU majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Environmental Technologies He was a highly active member of his community who was planning to serve as president of both the BU water polo club and the BU chapter of Tau Beta Pi (an engineering honor society)

Senior Alys Williams set the career scoring record for Edison girls' water polo when the Chargers defeated Fountain Valley, 16-6, in a Sunset League game Feb. 1. Williams, who will play next year at UCLA, scored six goals and also had seven steals. Her scoring tally broke the previous career record of 322 set by Danielle Warde, who is now at UC Irvine. Williams had 327 goals going into Wednesday's league finale against first-place Newport Harbor. The score wasn't available at press time.

Several local prep athletes took the next step in their educational and athletic careers Wednesday by signing a National Letter of Intent. Below is a list of some of the signings Wednesday submitted to the Independent by local schools: Edison: Angelisa Cortez (women's soccer, UC Santa Barbara); Bryce Campbell (football, Humboldt St.). Huntington Beach: Nolan Biegel (football, Pennsylvania); Chris Ogilvie (football, Brown); Ramon Vargas (football, UC Davis)

Edison girls' water polo coach Diggy Riley knew it'd be a tough week for the Chargers. Starting with a pair of nonleague games last weekend, Edison would face the Nos. 4-5-6 ranked teams in CIF Southern Section Division 1 over a five-day period. That string ended Tuesday at the Ocean View High pool as the Chargers, themselves ranked eighth in the division, were handed a 15-7 loss by sixth-ranked Laguna Beach. Combined with losses to fourth-ranked Santa Barbara (13-6), and fifth-ranked Dos Pueblos (13-2)

The Huntington Beach High girls' water polo team came from nowhere to place first Saturday at the Rancho Bernardo Invitational in San Diego. The Oilers went 5-0 to win the title. Coach Brian Anderson said his squad wasn't seeded in the top six at the event but defeated La Costa Canyon (15-3) and West View (15-4) on the opening day of the tournament Dec. 1 and came back Friday to down Sunset League rival Fountain Valley, 13-9. In the "group-of-three final" Saturday, the Oilers downed Rancho Buena Vista (18-2)

The Golden West College men's water polo team won the California Community College Men's Water Polo State Championship title Saturday by defeating Long Beach City College, 9-6, at the Cerritos Aquatic Complex in Cerritos. Golden West freshman Bero Rusz was named the men's tournament Most Valuable Player. He scored five goals in the title-game victory over Long Beach City College and had 11 goals in two state tournament games. Rustler teammates Marko Madaras and goalie Taylor Lapin also made the state's all-tourney team.

Four local teams had its season end in CIF Southern Section playoff action in the past week. In boys' water polo, Huntington Beach and Ocean View suffered quarterfinal losses Saturday. A third local team, Edison, was eliminated Nov. 9. Huntington Beach traveled to Manhattan Beach for its second Division 1 playoff game to face Loyola. The Mission League champion and fourth-seeded Cubs came away with a 15-11 victory at Mira Costa High. Senior attacker Max Shultz and junior attacker Jovan Jeremic both scored three goals and senior goalie Brandon Lucia had nine saves for the Oilers, who finished the year 25-6.

The Edison boys' water polo team took its first step in postseason play Tuesday with a road trip to face Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks in a first-round CIF Southern Section Division 1 wild-card game. When the final buzzer sounded, it was all Chargers. Edison fell behind early before bolting to a big lead, then turned to its junior varsity players to finish off the Knights in the fourth quarter, which they did in an eventual 17-9 victory at Brentwood School. The win put the Chargers in a first-round game Wednesday at top-ranked Mater Dei. The score wasn't available at press time.

In a key battle that determined the a co-leader in the Sunset League boys' water polo race, host Newport Harbor edged Huntington Beach, 11-9, on Oct. 19. Noah Harrison scored four goals, Jovan Jeremic and Scott Schultz scored twice, John Lovat scored once and Brandon Lucia had seven saves for the Oilers, who are ranked fourth in CIF Southern Section Division 1. The Sailors, ranked second in Division 1, got a game-high six goals from junior Curtis...

Huntington Beach Water Polo Club is taking registration for its Fall 2011 Water Polo Club Session. Sign ups are open to beginners and advanced players in the following divisions: 10-and-under coed team, 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U boys' teams, and 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U girls' teams. Teams will compete in scrimmages and against other club teams during the season. The 18U girls' team won the Junior Olympics national championship last month. For more information, call (559) 906-9902, or email admin@hbwaterpolo.com . * Edison aquatics sponsors haunted house The Edison High aquatics program is sponsoring a Haunted House as the "twilight hour approaches" on Oct. 29 and Oct. 31 at 15962 Wicklow Lane in Huntington Beach.