WATER POLO : Laster Makes Grade In, Out of the Pool

Jeremy Laster missed the first two days of his senior year at San Clemente High School last week, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t learning.

Instead of textbook lessons, Laster got further education in international water polo, playing for the U.S. junior national team in the Junior World Championships, which ended Sunday at Corona del Mar High School.

For Laster, the team’s fifth-place finish was disappointing, but being 17 and the youngest member of the team by about two years, he realizes he’ll have other chances.

“I was expecting to make the team next year but it’s really not my turn,” Laster said. “Even when I make it next year, I’ll still be the youngest guy on the team.”

Said U.S. Junior team Coach Ricardo Azevedo: “When he plays at his age group two years from now, he should be one of the top players around--not just in this country but anywhere.”

If Laster is still a few years from international stardom, his place in the high school game is secure.

“After guarding a 6-7 guy . . . guarding a 5-11 high school guy is different,” Laster said. “It’s a lot easier.”

A 6-foot-4 left-handed player and a superior student with a 3.85 grade-point average, Laster likely will be one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation, his coaches say.

Monday, Laster rejoined his high school team after missing the first few weeks of practice while playing with the junior team. The Tritons are ranked No. 2 in the preseason Orange County coaches’ poll and open their season against No. 1 Corona del Mar at 6 p.m. Thursday at Saddleback College.

The game is a rematch of last year’s Division 4-A quarterfinal, which Corona del Mar won, 9-8, but Laster says his team will be better prepared this season.

“We felt we could beat any team but Corona del Mar,” Laster said. “And we got in there and lost by one, and we didn’t even play a good game.

“This year we don’t think there’s anybody that can beat us. We might lose some games, but nobody is going to beat us.”

That kind of talk reflects the confidence Laster has built since becoming involved in the sport. When he entered San Clemente in 1988, he envisioned himself as a basketball player. However, his family had a water polo heritage--his father had played at Anaheim High and his uncle Don coaches the sport at Dana Hills--so he decided to play water polo as a freshman.

“I decided I’d try it as long as it didn’t interfere with basketball,” Laster said.

But basketball soon became the disposable sport. As a freshman, Laster was used as a reserve on the varsity water polo team during the playoffs and because the team advanced to the title game, he joined the basketball team about a month after practice had started.

He completed the basketball season, but then decided to concentrate on water polo, lured by the promise of playing varsity as a sophomore. Winning was another draw.

“It’s the only winning program at our whole school besides surfing,” Laster said. “Knowing that when you go into a game you have a chance of winning is nice. I think we won something like one game my freshman year in basketball.”

Laster’s experience in sports such as basketball, soccer and baseball helped him in the pool, and he soon was one of the top players at San Clemente.

He isn’t the fastest swimmer on the San Clemente team and he isn’t the strongest. Last season he wasn’t the leading scorer (he had 94 goals to Sean Lane’s 114). But as the two-meter defender, he usually guards the opponent’s best player and he excels at the intangibles.

“He’s a very, very intelligent kid and he’s always thinking of how to beat you and take advantage of your weaknesses,” San Clemente Coach Steve Yancey said.

Laster has also worked hard to eliminate his weaknesses. Because he isn’t an above-average swimmer, he often sandwiched swimming workouts between morning workouts with the junior national team and evening summer league games with San Clemente.

“Because he is so driven, he’s put himself in another realm,” Yancey said. “He should be among the top three players in the nation when college coaches go out to recruit.”

Water Polo

Top Teams

Orange County water polo coaches’ preseason poll:

1. Corona del Mar 2. San Clemente 3. Capistrano Valley 4. (tie) Tustin and Newport Harbor 6. Foothill 7. El Toro 8. Villa Park 9. Dana Hills 10. Marina. Others: El Dorado, Costa Mesa, Canyon and Edison.

Top Players

Matt Braun (Marina), Jeremy Braxton-Brown (Capistrano Valley), Bret Bowen (Dana Hills), Pat Collins (Tustin), Miguel Franco (Canyon), Joe Haxel (Newport Harbor), John Kenyan (Marina), Riki Krumins (Newport Harbor), Sean Lane (San Clemente), Randy Larson (Villa Park), Jeremy Laster (San Clemente), Chris Lawrence (Dana Hills), Alex Lesser (Capistrano Valley), Mark Magna (Sunny Hills), Dan Mathot (El Toro), Brent Palluck (Foothill), Robbie Pike (Corona del Mar), Julian Popov (Costa Mesa), Steve Salata (Foothill), Ted Simpkins (Corona del Mar), Jon Stephenson (Villa Park), Austin Weir (Corona del Mar), Jake Yokota (Capistrano Valley), Jeremy Yorba (Tustin).

Important Dates

Sept. 26-28, South Coast Tournament; Oct. 3-5, Villa Park tournament; Oct. 14, 18-19, North Orange County tournament; Oct. 25-26, California State Tournament, Stanford; Nov. 13, first round, Division 3-A playoffs; Nov. 14, first round, Division 2-A playoffs; Nov. 15, first round, Division 4-A playoffs; Nov. 27, Southern Section championship games.

Notes

El Toro, which has won three consecutive Southern Section titles (3-A in 1988 and ’89 and 4-A in 1990) will find it difficult to win a fourth. The Chargers were hit hard by graduation and have only one starter returning. Worse, they play in the South Coast League--one of the two toughest leagues in the section. Four league teams are ranked in the Orange County preseason poll and only three can make the playoffs. . . . Corona del Mar’s string of 4-A titles was stopped at three last season when the Sea Kings lost to Long Beach Wilson in the semifinals. It was the first time since 1983 that a Corona del Mar team wasn’t in the championship game. . . . Braxton-Brown, Capistrano Valley’s 6-foot-4, 215-pound two-meter man, was named MVP after leading his club to the national Junior Olympic 15-and-under championship this summer.