A host of local water polo standouts competed in national tournaments in the past week and were named to prestigious national training teams with USA Water Polo.
Santa Barbara High graduate and Stanford-bound star Ian Gamble and his Coastal California squad won its second straight Men’s Junior National Championship, and Gamble earned a spot on the Junior Men’s National Training Team through the Olympic Development Program as a result. Fellow Santa Barbara Water Polo Foundation members Nick Tomasello and Danny White – both of Rio Mesa High – also made the squad after the team defeated Southern Pacific 5-4 in a thrilling championship match.
The Training team will be reduced during the summer to a National Travel Team, which will compete this August in the Junior World Games in Split, Croatia.
In the Youth Boys Group, Dos Pueblos’ Kevin Cappon, Chase Racich and Derek Shoemaker made their respective training teams while fellow Chargers Sami Hill and Kiley Neushul made the cut in the Junior Girls. Jamie Neushul, DP’s Kodi Hill and Tiera Schroeder, and Santa Barbara High’s Samantha King and Kelsey O’Brien were named to the Youth Girls Training Team.
