Golden West Begins Its Defense of Water Polo Title

The Golden West College water polo team will attempt to defend its title when the state championships begin today at Long Beach Belmont Plaza Pool.

The Rustlers (26-4) open against Modesto (16-13) at 10:15 a.m. In other first-round games, Orange Coast (22-8) plays De Anza (20-3) at 9 a.m., Cuesta (30-1) plays Diablo Valley at 11:30 a.m. and Grossmont (23-10) plays College of the Sequoias (16-8) at 12:45 p.m.

The winners advance to Friday’s semifinals at 6 and 7:15 p.m., with the championship game scheduled Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Golden West would like a rematch with Cuesta, the top-seeded team in the state. Cuesta has defeated Golden West in three of four meetings this season, including a 9-8 victory last Saturday to win the Southern California Regional title.

Golden West’s other defeat came against Orange Coast in the Cypress Tournament earlier this season. The Rustlers, South Coast Conference champions, are led on offense by Edvard Van Luijn, who has 86 goals. Torey Culbertson is second with 58.

Orange Coast, which finished second in the Orange Empire Conference to Grossmont, is led by Ken Nickel, who has 85 goals. Arturo Sanchez is second for OCC with 65.

The Orange Coast women’s cross-country team competes in the state championships Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Pirates finished fifth last Friday at the Southern California Regional Meet to advance. The top five teams from Northern and Southern California will take part in the meet.

The 5,000-meter women’s race begins at 9 a.m. with El Camino, Mt. San Antonio and West Valley as the favorites.

Mt. San Antonio, Long Beach and American River are the favorites in the 4.2-mile men’s race, which is set for 9:45 a.m.

The first round of the Southern California Regional men’s soccer championships start Saturday. Orange Coast (13-5-3) travels to Cuyamaca (9-5-1) for a 1 p.m. game. Cuyamaca defeated OCC, 3-2, this season.

Irvine Valley (17-1-4), in its first year, plays host to Bakersfield (14-5) at 2:30 p.m. at Alton Park in Irvine.

East Los Angeles (17-1) plays host to Southwestern (8-6-2) and El Camino (10-8-1) is at Moorpark (15-0) in Saturday’s other first-round games.