Posted: Aug 16, 2018
SAN DIEGO, CA - The Mesa College men’s water polo team is set for their 2018 campaign with a scrimmage against Orange Coast College on August 31 at Mesa College.
Head Coach Nathan Resch is excited for the new players competing for Mesa this year and expects an improvement from a sub .500 overall record last season. “We saw tremendous growth and improvement last year. We competed in every game and finished strong in our conference tournament,” states Resch. “The opportunity we have, with many of our sophomores graduating, is creating a renewed culture of hard work with a talented group of freshman.”
With tremendous speed on this years squad, Coach Resch wants to focus on increasing the tempo for the offense, but stresses the importance of effort on the defensive side of the pool. “We will look to up the tempo of our offense out of transition as the speed and quickness of this group is a strength. Everything starts from effort on the defensive side of the pool which I believe this group will embrace.”Sophomores Austin Greenwell and Arman Hamrah are the lone starters returning from last season. They had tremendous growth through 2017 and will undoubtedly make an immediate impact by understanding and communicating our systems. Centers Cooper Lynch (University City High) and Brendan McMahon (Point Loma High) will provide stability and power in the middle of the offense, an area in which the team struggled in 2017.Castor Klein (Defender - Steele Canyon), Rodrigo Camargo (Goal Keeper - Brazil), Brad Palmer (attacker – Mission Bay), Eric Orozco (attacker – University City), Micah Schwenkmeyer (attacker - University City), and Kenny Pinneo (attacker - Palm Desert) are all impact freshman to watch.
The Olympians ended the 2017 season with a 7-17 overall and 3-3 league record. The Olympians also had 260 goals and 177 assists with a 10.83 goals per game. Sophomore’s Max Perlin and Henry Smith earned first team all-conference and tournament recognition and Henry will be transferring to Division 1 San Jose State University to compete this Fall.