DIVISION 2 Chino Hills 8, Redlands East Valley 7 Etiwanda 11, Santa Monica 10 La Habra 13, Alta Loma 10 Los Alamitos 22, Walnut 13 Orange Lutheran 11, San Marino 10 El Segundo 17, Edison 16 Damien 14, Crescenta Valley 11 Crean Lutheran 21, Carpinteria 13 Redondo Union 12, La Serna 8 Royal 11, Riverside King 10 Ventura 11, Corona Santiago 6 Aliso Niguel 16, Dana Hills 13 Capistrano Valley 17, Woodbridge 6 Anaheim Canyon 6, Murrieta Valley 5 St. John Bosco 11, Portola 9 Riverside Poly 14, Cate 9
DIVISION 3 Camarillo 11, Flintridge Prep 5 Burbank 13, Agoura 9 Trabuco Hills 21, Eastvale Roosevelt 13 Bonita 17, Brentwood 3 Temple City 19, Redlands 13 Arcadia 8, Yorba Linda 7 Glendora 15, Troy 10 Malibu 14, Millikan 8 Santa Barbara 11, Valley View 9 Hoover 9, Elsinore 8 Pasadena Poly 9, Schurr 7 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 18, Villa Park 8 Irvine University 11, Fullerton 9 Great Oak 14, Long Beach Poly 10 Brea Olinda 11, Rancho Cucamonga 9 Cathedral at Temecula Valley
DIVISION 4 Charter Oak 18, Webb 8 Santa Ana 11, Tustin 9 Garden Grove Pacifica at La Canada Placentia Valencia 15, Temescal Canyon 8 Aquinas at Buena Park Anaheim 15, La Quinta 8 Palm Desert 13, Los Altos 11 Hemet 21, Paloma Valley 9 Glendale 22, La Salle 15 Western 16, Estancia 15 Mission Viejo 10, Sunny Hills 6 Culver City 21, West Covina 12 Liberty 15, West Torrance 3 Sonora 14, Don Lugo 10 South Torrance at Xavier Prep Garden Grove at Corona
DIVISION 5 Fontana 21, Bolsa Grande 7 Edgewood 13, Lakeside 9 Ramona 17, Heritage 7 Chino 6, Los Amigos 5 Warren 19, Cerritos 4 Westminster 16, Summit 10 Rowland 14, Pioneer 13 Norte Vista 21, Artesia 9 Montebello 16, Nogales 3 La Mirada 5, Chaffey 4 San Bernardino 21, Westminster La Quinta 11 Hillcrest 21, Indio 10 La Palma Kennedy 22, Riverside Notre Dame 6 Nordhoff 16, Savanna 12 Santa Fe 9, California 8 Baldwin Park 21, West Valley 7
FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 5 p.m. unless noted)
First Round
DIVISION 1 Servite at Loyola San Marcos at San Juan Hills Huntington Beach at Buena San Clemente at Dos Pueblos Downey at Mater Dei Sage Hill at Yucaipa Westlake at Beckman Foothill at Harvard-Westlake
Note:Open Division Pool Play second round Nov. 1 at higher seeds; Divisions 2-5 second round Nov. 4; Open Division Pool Play third round Nov. 5 at higher seeds; Division 1 quarterfinals Nov. 6; Divisions 2-5 quarterfinals Nov. 7; Open Division crossover round Nov. 8 at higher seed; Divisions 2-5 semifinals Nov. 11; Open Division semifinals Nov. 12 at Woollett Aquatics Center; Division 1 semifinals Nov. 12; Finals (all divisions) Nov. 15 at Mt. San Antonio College.
Note:Open Division Pool Play second round Nov. 1 at higher seeds; Divisions 2-5 second round Nov. 4; Open Division Pool Play third round Nov. 5 at higher seeds; Division 1 quarterfinals Nov. 6; Divisions 2-5 quarterfinals Nov. 7; Open Division crossover round Nov. 8 at higher seed; Divisions 2-5 semifinals Nov. 11; Open Division semifinals Nov. 12 at Woollett Aquatics Center; Division 1 semifinals Nov. 12; Finals (all divisions) Nov. 15 at Mt. San Antonio College.
Note:Open Division Pool Play second round Nov. 1 at higher seeds; Divisions 2-5 second round Nov. 4; Open Division Pool Play third round Nov. 5 at higher seeds; Division 1 quarterfinals Nov. 6; Divisions 2-5 quarterfinals Nov. 7; Open Division crossover round Nov. 8 at higher seed; Divisions 2-5 semifinals Nov. 11; Open Division semifinals Nov. 12 at Woollett Aquatics Center; Division 1 semifinals Nov. 12; Finals (all divisions) Nov. 15 at Mt. San Antonio College.
Watching 6-foot-6, 220-pound Connor Ohl of Newport Harbor High play water polo is similar to a Great White Shark sighting. You’re stunned and in awe.
He’s water polo’s version of a speeding dolphin in the pool, able to accelerate so fast with his long arms and powerful legs that few can stay with him. He won the Southern Section Division 1 50-yard freestyle title last spring and broke 20 seconds in a league meet (19.79), so beware to those who think he’s not as fast as advertised.
Then comes his size and strength. He could be a football player because physicality comes naturally. Being the youngest of three water polo playing brothers, it was sink or swim in the Ohl household growing up in Greenwich, Conn. One brother plays for Stanford, where Connor will soon join him. Another plays at Princeton.
Connor moved to Orange County last year for his junior season so he could be part of what he calls “the water polo hub of America.”
This past summer, he was the youngest player on the USA junior national team that earned a silver medal at the under-20 world championships in Croatia.
“It was such a crazy experience,” he said.
First there was playing the host team in front of screaming fans in an indoor pool. “Oh my God, It was so loud,” he said. “They had drummers. You couldn’t hear yourself think.”
Then there was playing Serbia, known for its physicality. He was a boy going against men. “It’s insane,” he said. “Some are built like refrigerators.”
What Ohl learned from his international experience will help him immensely during a high school season in which Newport Harbor is the defending Southern Section champion and heavily favored to win again. The Sailors are off to a 6-0 start.
Ben Liechty, Peter Castillo, Connor Ohl and Gavin Appeldorn, from left, represented Newport Harbor at the Under-20 World Championships in Croatia.
(Courtesy of Newport Harbor water polo)
“Going from high school water polo to the junior level is like night and day,” he said. “These juniors have been playing basically their whole life — Spain, Hungary, Croatia. They worship water polo. It’s made me a lot more physical. Coming back to high school, it’s made me more confident to defend and control people with my strength and size.”
With the arrival of the Anderson brothers, Tyler and Sean, from JSerra, Newport Harbor starts out as perhaps the best team in the country.
“We could be a football team with as big as we are in water polo,” Ohl said.
Corona del Mar, JSerra, Oaks Christian and Harvard-Westlake hope to offer resistance.
Ohl is the latest Southern California product who can’t wait to represent the USA in the Olympic Games, which happen to be coming to Los Angeles in 2028. The Dodd brothers, Ryder and Chase, from JSerra and Huntington Beach, played in the 2024 Olympic Games.
It will be one of the toughest teams to make because of the experience and depth with so many players back from 2024.
“My chances are as good as anyone else,” Ohl said. “That’s my dream. I just want to represent my country at the Olympics.”
Meanwhile, if you want to see someone who can swim as fast as a fish, check out a Newport Harbor water polo match. That’s Connor Ohl, the speeding bullet.
Water polo players briefly left the pool after shots were fired near an Under-20 World Cup game in Brazil.
Brazilian police have said there were no injuries after shots were fired near an Under-20 World Cup water polo women’s game between China and Canada in the city of Salvador.
China won 12-8 on Sunday – the opening day of the tournament – but footage showed the game being briefly interrupted as players got out of the pool, lay down and took cover by a small barrier after hearing gunshots outside the water polo venue in the Pituba neighbourhood. China led Canada 3-2 at the time.
“The match stopped for about a minute. Our team saw that the police were taking care of it,” Marco Antonio Lemos, head of the Bahia state water sports federation, said in a statement on Monday.
Police said the cause of the shots was a confrontation with an alleged local thief who was outside the venue and tried to escape. No more details were given.
Spectators were told about the incident after the game had resumed.
Brazil is hosting the 16-team tournament for the first time.
