Not a bad year by most standards, but Bellarmine isn’t satisfied with mediocrity. Since head coach Larry Rogers took the reins in the early 1980s Bellarmine has been a Northern California powerhouse. They’ve earned 21 section titles during Rogers’ tenure and have been considered one of the top teams in the state almost every year.

“They’ve been the kings forever,” Sacred Heart Head Coach Brian Kreutzkamp said.

Sacred Heart and St. Francis will be the biggest challenges for the Bells once again in ‘08, “but every team we play will be a challenge,” Rogers said. Last fall was the first time in 10 years that the Bells missed out on the section championship. Every season, they compete with a target on their back. They are the team to beat in the WCAL, the CCS and in the state, year in and year out.

Rogers will lose three very good players from last year’s squad.

All WCAL utility man, Patrick Talbott will play for USC this year. Brian Schmidt who also made all WCAL his senior year will play for UC Berkeley. Second team all WCAL driver Daniel Wall will also be missed. “We will miss their leadership and contributions to the team,” Rogers said. “But as with all programs the new year allows for other athletes to step up and take over.”

Rogers will have plenty of talent to work with this fall and looks forward to lots of competition for each position. He makes a point of creating an atmosphere of competition. Players earn their positions in the water and there is always pressure from beneath pushing the men to a higher level.

Frosh/soph took second place in the WCAL last season and second in the Nor-Cal tournament. “We have a solid junior class this year,” Rogers said. “They are in competition with the seniors for their roll on the team.”

Senior goalie Peter Laird who earned second team all league honors his junior year will compete for the starting spot with two other solid goalies according to Rogers.

With the tradition of excellence that everybody is used to seeing, Rogers and the men understand how important it is to return to their dominant ways. “Tradition is an important part of Bellarmine,” Rogers said. “The Student body and the Student Athletes as a whole are very cognoscente of the past and the continuing to strive for a high level.”

“With the effort that the team is putting out at this point hopefully it will be a very successful season,” Rogers said. He expects his players “to play hard, compete with integrity and to strive to reach their potential.”

The Bells open their regular season on September 12 at the John Schmitt Memorial Tournament. They open league play at home on September 30 with a very tough Sacred Heart Prep squad lead by All American Paul Rudolph.

Rudolph’s brilliance in the pool last season made Sacred Heart Prep Head Coach Brian Kreutzkamp believe he is coaching one of the best players in the game. Kreutzkamp said, “[Rudolph] will be a top three performer if not the best player in high school water polo this season.”

“He’s a very humble kid,” Kreutzkamp said, “and he’s happy to get the college stuff out of the way so he can be committed to a strong senior season.”

A repeat of last year’s title would be a major accomplishment considering the Gators lost five of seven starters from 2007’s championship team. They’re counting on several unseasoned players to step up and fill that void.

Rudolph and fellow 2007 first team all league driver, senior Alex Whittam will lead the admittedly green squad into the 2008 season according to Kreutzkamp. “Alex and Paul are two really good experienced starters,” Kreutzkamp said, “and we’re relying on them to bring our less experienced players through.”

Kreutzkamp is looking to Junior Goalie, Ben Dearborn to take over for 2007 grad and first team all leaguer Michael Wishart. Wishart leaves big shoes to fill, but Kreutzkamp is confident in his young keeper. “Our Frosh/Soph team was 5-1 in league and won the WCAL last year, and [Dearborn] was a big part of that,” Kreutzkamp said. Dearborn has worked closely with Wishart and Kreutzkamp is happy with the young keeper’s progress.

Hunter Horsley is a senior that is expected to step up along with junior Connor Still. Kreutzkamp has his eye on three sophomores, Robert Dunlevie, Evan Navarro and Phillip Bamberg who helped lead Frosh/Soph in 2007 and who will all get time on the varsity squad this fall.

With a strong sophomore class, the future is undoubtedly bright for the Gators, but their immediate objective is to get back to CCS and find success. They’ve been hard at work all summer preparing for the upcoming season playing club water polo and practicing every morning at 6:30.

Kreutkamp recently brought the squad to Italy where they scrimmaged European club teams in four different cities. “We got beat up pretty bad,” Kreutzkamp said, “which is what I expected. It definitely made us stronger.”

As usual, the Gators have their eyes on beating the Bellarmine Bells who have been dominant in CCS for years. The Gators beat the Bells 11-8 last October for only the second time in school history. “They’ve been the kings forever,” Kreukzkamp said, “beating them was probably our second biggest accomplishment last year.”

St. Francis will return 5 of 7 starters from their 2007 CCS runner up squad and are favored in the WCAL and in CCS. “We’re most worried about St. Francis. They’re favored to win the league but Bellarmine and Sacred Heart will be close behind,” Kreutzkamp said.

The Gators kick off their season on September 12 at the John Schmitt Memorial Tournament.

Saint Francis
Saint Francis in 2007.

In 2005 they were eliminated in the opening round of the CCS Division II playoffs. In 2006 they made it to the division I semi-finals. And last year they made it to the division II championship match losing a 8-10 heartbreaker to Sacred Heart Prep. If the pattern continues, this November you can expect to see the Lancers celebrating their first CCS title in four years. The question is whether the trophy will read division I or division II champions.

O’Donnell has the daunting task of scouting over 20 CCS teams each season while most coaches only concern themselves with 10 or 11. That’s because the CCS advances 24 teams to the section playoffs and they compete in the division according to their school’s enrolled population. 12 teams with the highest enrollment compete for the division I title and the others for the division II title. St. Francis is usually right on that cusp with the twelfth or thirteenth highest population of the lot.

“√Ö‚ÄúIt makes it exciting every year, but it also means that I get to scout twice as many teams,”√Ǭù O’Donnell said.

In his 14th year at St. Francis, O’Donnell is as confident as ever in his team. “We have a great mix of kids and a lot of great leadership. Plus we have a strong group of youngsters coming up,”√Ǭù O’Donnell said.

The Lancers will return 4 starters from last year including first team all CCS senior Miguel Martin De Bustamante and second team all CCS senior Evan Dellinger.

They lost some very good talent from last season’s starting lineup when seniors Tom Avery-USC, Michael Olsen-UCLS and Josh Henris-West Valley CC moved on to play college ball. “We had a fantastic senior class last year and it made it a lot of fun to coach,”O’Donnell said, “They left some shoes to fill and work to do. There are openings for younger guys to step up.”

Look for seniors Tom Cole and keeper Tony Dito to join Martin De Bustamante and Dellinger to lead the Lancers in 2008.

This weekend their club team traveled to Orange County to compete in the California State High School Championships where they went 4-2 beating Murrieta Valley, Agoura, Santa Barbara and La Canada to take 11th place out of 32 schools. “My boys are playing really well together right now,”√Ǭù O’Donnell said, “I’m really looking forward to the season.”

They can only hope to have the start they had last year when they began the season 17-0. “We’ve never had a string of wins like that before,”O’Donnell said, “it really gave the guys a lot of confidence.”

Confidence is key when you’re competing in the West Catholic Athletic League. “We play in an absolutely loaded league,”√Ǭù O’Donnell said. “I expect Sacred Heart, St. Francis and Bellarmine to finish top three.”√Ǭù All three schools are recognized as some of the best in Northern California.

The Lancers open their season at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California.