Foothill Looking for Quality Wave

A whirlwind summer is drawing to a close for Ian Elliott, the soon-to-be senior at Santa Ana Foothill High. There are few days of unrestrained pleasure before high school water polo season starts.

“This is the best summer I’ve ever had,” said Elliott, whose proclamation took a moment to grasp, considering his memorable summer of 2000. He was one of two goalkeepers on the U.S. junior national team last year, winning gold at the Pan-American qualification tournament in Venezuela.

But Elliott decided against another summer of hard-core water polo, opting instead to surf up to three times a day over the last 21/2 months.

“It was the first thing I thought of every day,” he said.

Elliott considered it the perfect lull before the high school season, when he’s expected to reclaim his stake as one of the top shot-blockers in the Southern Section. As a junior, he led Foothill into the Division I final, playing his best in an 8-5 quarterfinal victory over North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake and an 8-4 semifinal victory over Long Beach Wilson.

Elliott was among three Californians selected to the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Assn. All-American team and the only junior on the All-Southern Section Division I team.

“Elliott is the best keeper in [Orange County] and probably the section,” said former Newport Harbor coach Brian Kreutzkamp, after his team’s victory over Foothill in the championship game.

Since then, Elliott has played in few games of that caliber, leaving some to wonder if the layoff will hurt him.

“I think he might have hit his peak last summer,” said his father, John Elliott.

Ian’s sabbatical from water polo began in March, when he moved to Salt Lake City to live with his mother, stepfather and sister. Elliott said he wanted to “find myself and put my goals in order.”

The atmosphere provided a big lift for his spirit, but provided little in the way of water polo competition. Elliott joined a local club team, but it played only once a week.

He returned to Orange County in June and learned his spot on the junior national team had been taken by UCLA redshirt freshman Joseph Axelrad, who had opened the roster spot for Elliott the previous summer by taking a break of his own.

Elliott wasn’t surprised when he was moved down to the national youth team, but was shocked to learn he had been dropped to the “B” team. He chose not to play for the national team, instead rejoining his club team and surfing every chance he had.

Foothill Coach Jim Brumm is well aware of Elliott’s passion for surfing. He suspended Elliott from the team for two weeks during his sophomore season for taking an impromptu surf trip during the heart of the schedule. The day Elliott returned from suspension, he paddled out and suffered a head injury during a wipeout, causing him to miss the rest of the season.

“My sophomore year I took things too far,” Elliott said. “But Coach Brumm knows how important surfing is to me.”

Elliott said he still plans to wake up at 4:30 a.m. on school days and catch some quality waves. He also hopes to continue playing water polo next fall at UC San Diego, which has a Division II program. Elliott agrees he probably has the talent to play at the Division I level, but that’s not all that is important to him.

“UCSD has a good sports medicine program,” Elliott said. “And it’s close to some good beaches.”

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Manhattan Beach Mira Costa senior Tyler Krikorian has the best credentials of any returning player outside Orange County. He was named player of the year in Division III last season, scoring six goals in the Mustangs’ 9-6 victory over Upland in the Southern Section championship game. Teammate Will Didinger is also the top returning goalkeeper in the division, earning first-team honors last season.

Riverside Poly, the defending Division V champion, also returns a key player in senior Eric Qualls, who scored six goals in the Bears’ 25-8 rout of Palm Desert in the title game.

Long Beach Wilson, which had its four-year reign as Division I champion end last season in a semifinal loss to Santa Ana Foothill, has one of the Southland’s top juniors in Thomas Hale.

North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake also has a talented junior in Travis Warner.

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Graduation cleaned out defending Division I champion Newport Beach Newport Harbor, which won its first section title since 1984. Jason Lynch said he expects a starting lineup made up entirely of juniors.

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The Century League game between Foothill and Villa Park on Oct. 24 will wrap up one of the more competitive rivalries in the Southland.

Foothill is moving to the Sea View League next season as part of an Orange County releaguing plan that was formulated last spring.