USA Water Polo Honors Seven Greenwich Youths with All-American Status

Over the summer, the Greenwich YMCA Aquatics water polo teams had an unprecedented performance in the Junior Olympics, the world’s largest water polo tournament. There are 500 water polo clubs in the U.S. Of the clubs outside California, Greenwich Aquatics had the best overall performance, with girls and boys teams representing the Eastern Zone in every age group. Its 12u and 14u boys teams had the highest finishes of any non-California teams in history. As a result, in early September USA water polo named seven Greenwich players to the all-American Junior Olympic team.

The 10u mixed team finished 14th in the country, sparked by an astonishing come from behind shoot out victory over Commerce of Los Angeles, which it trailed by 8 goals in the third quarter. Connor Ohl was named an honorable mention all-American as the team’s representative for its strong national performance.

In the competitive 18u girls’ division, which this year was marked by aggressive physical play, Greenwich Aquatics finished 13th nationally. Alexandra Furano was named to the honorable mention team.

In the 14u boys division, Greenwich Aquatics posted the highest placing ever outside California with a 7th place finish, beating Los Angeles powerhouses LA Premiere and Trojan along the way. Its most historic victory came against Stanford. Trailing 4-0 at the half, Greenwich rattled off six unanswered goals that stunned the crowd enroute to a historic 6-4 win. Gavin West, a member of the national development team, and goalkeeper Hayden Collins were awarded honorable mention all-American status.

The culmination for the Greenwich club was an unprecedented podium finish for the 12u boys. After victories over nationally-ranked Rose Bowl, Foothill and Stanford, the boys played 680 from San Francisco Bay in the bronze medal match. They emerged victorious in front of a packed stadium crowd, a 3rd place ranking that reverberated nationally. Three all-Americans emerged. Goalkeeper Ryan Miele was named to the 2nd Team while Patrick Mullen and Ryan Ohl were named to the 1st Team. They are the first non-Californians to achieve the distinction in the modern era.

Founded in 1916, the YMCA is the largest community-based membership organization in Greenwich. Part of a well-known YMCA national network, the Greenwich Y has over 5000 members and growing. Its programs in healthy living and youth development seek to serve and to nurture the potential of everyone in our community, whether or not they have the ability to pay for its programs.

To learn more about the YMCA of Greenwich, membership and its numerous wellness programs, visit: www.greenwichymca.org.