CC United 18's Win Gold at Water Polo National Junior Olympics!

Led by head coach Matt DeTrane, and assistants Jack Brown and Garrett Dunn, the CC United 18U team won the 2021 USA Water Polo Junior Olympics National Championship held July 17-20 in Orange County, California. The CC United Water Polo Club draws players from around the East Bay Area. Founded by Kirk Jensen in 2011, CCU has had several top five finishes at JO’s across different age groups over the past few years. This year’s 18U team finally brought home the Gold, posting a 7-0 record during the grueling four-day event, which is the largest of its kind in the world.

CC United prevailed over strong teams including 680, San Diego Shores, Vanguard Red, and LA Premier to get to the final game. The championship against Vanguard Black was played in front of a capacity crowd, with hundreds more watching at home on the livestream. Raucous CCU fans and CCU players from other age groups cheered on the 18’s. CCU trailed by three goals late in the 3rd quarter, but then scored six straight goals - including a hat trick in the span of 1:11 minutes by CJ Indart - to go up 13-9 with four minutes left in the game. In the end CCU won with solid team defense anchored by goalie West Temkin, and balanced scoring with nine different players – Gil Gvishi, Indart, Ben Larsen, Mark Laurlund, Leo Lueddemann, Chase McFarland, Kyle Thomas, Grant Watson, and Brock Zamanian – contributing to the final score of 13-10.

The CC United championship team includes five 2021 high school graduates that live in Alamo or Danville, all of whom will be playing D1 water polo in college – CJ Indart (Monte Vista, Stanford), Mark Laurlund (Monte Vista, UCLA), Leo Lueddemann (Monte Vista, George Washington), Brodie Sladek (De La Salle, Loyola Marymount), and Grant Watson (San Ramon Valley, Stanford). West Temkin, CCU goalie and tournament MVP, lives in Alamo and is a rising senior at Campolindo. He has verbally committed to attend and play water polo at Harvard.

Players in Team Photo:
Back Row:
Bardia Koopah, Jay Mills, Charlie Saunders, Caleb Boggan, Kyle Thomas, Tommy O’Conner, Chase McFarland, Ben Larsen, Brock Zamanian, Grant Watson, CJ Indart, West Temkin, Gil Gvishi, Mark Laurlund, Leo Lueddemann, Nate Rego, Brodie Sladek
Front Row (Coaches):
Kirk Jensen, Jack Brown, Matt DeTrane, Garrett Dunn, Sean Thomas