Daily Pilot Boys’ Water Polo Dream Team: Hard work paid off for Newport Harbor’s Connor Ohl
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Connor Ohl may stand 6-foot-7, but even that height can’t describe the giant impact the senior made in the Newport Harbor High boys’ water polo program.
He transferred in from Connecticut as a sophomore. For the next three years, he grinded.
Every. Single. Day.
It stunned Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair, who has been coach at his alma mater for a decade-plus and involved in the sport of water polo for about 30 years.
“The second he got here as a sophomore, he immediately elevated our training with the way he trains, his focus, his intensity,” Sinclair said. “I’ve never been around someone that can train at the level that he can so consistently. I’ve never seen him take a swim set off, a moment in a swim set. He just goes.
“It’s like flooring a Ferrari across the country, and it gets there, you know?”
This passion and intensity benefited the Sailors in myriad ways. The Stanford-bound Ohl was a part of three CIF Southern Section Open Division finalist teams, winning the title the last two seasons. The attacker was a core leader of a senior class that went a combined 66-2 over the last two years.
Ohl is the 2025-26 Daily Pilot Boys’ Water Polo Dream Team Player of the Year.
Having made his debut with the U.S. senior national team at last summer’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Ohl has a high ceiling. Nobody worked harder for the Sailors, and as the years passed, he took his role as a leader and mentor to the team’s younger players to heart as well.
He was an impact player from the start, scoring the winning goal in the Open Division semifinals against Harvard-Westlake as a sophomore in 2023.
“I’m just really glad that I was able to go out there and become a role model right away,” he said. “That’s just something that I’ve always strived to be, and I think Newport gave me a great opportunity to do that. My philosophy is that if people see me training hard, then they’re going to train hard as well.”
An All-CIF performer who shared Sunset League MVP honors with teammate and fellow Stanford commit Kai Kaneko, Ohl could impact the game in several ways beyond the scoring column.
He routinely won the quarter-starting sprints for Newport Harbor, giving the Sailors the first chance at an offensive possession four times a game. That speed also assisted Newport Harbor on the counterattack.
“He can shoot, he can post up, he can drive, he can defend,” Sinclair said. “I thought his defensive IQ improved significantly, where he was actually using his long length and athleticism to really have impacts on games. Teams aren’t going to let that guy get into open space, and I thought he still was able to have huge impacts on our season this year.”
An example was the Open Division final win over rival Corona del Mar, where Ohl was held to one goal.
“[CdM coach] Lucas [Reynolds] wasn’t going to let him get open,” Sinclair said. “Those guys were locked in on him, and he still was able to have an impact by countering and creating. A lot of high school kids will maybe start to check out, you know, because they’re not having a stat impact on the game. But he does things away from the ball that I value big-time.”
Ohl credited his teammates — and the Newport Harbor culture itself — for creating a competitive environment that has led to four CIF titles in the last five years. He thanked 2025 graduate James Mulvey for offering him some competition on the swim sets that he would routinely dominate in practice.
In swimming, Ohl last spring captured the Sunset League 50-yard freestyle title in a time of 19.79 seconds, becoming just the second Orange County high school swimmer to go under 20 seconds. He then backed that up the following week by winning the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title in that event.
For his senior year, Ohl said he hopes to win the 100-yard freestyle, too, knowing that will be a bigger challenge but not out of the realm of possibility.
“He’s a freak athlete, man,” Huntington Beach coach Nick Graffis said. “He could be all-county in any sport he chose. I guess the water polo community is lucky that he chose water polo.”
The Sailors definitely were lucky that he anchored their team last year as well. Now he heads to Stanford, where he and Kaneko will attempt to win an NCAA championship. Ohl’s older brother, Ryan, also plays for the Cardinal.
Sinclair said he also believes an Olympic spot could be in the works for Connor Ohl in the future.
“As long as he continues to embrace the little marginal gains in his game, he can absolutely do that,” Sinclair said.
Competing in the Olympics would be a dream come true for Connor Ohl, but he knows that it’s the process — the work — that will help him get there.
“All you can do is work day by day,” Ohl said. “That’s how you get the results you want. Of course, I’d like to go to the Olympics. I want that as my goal, but that can’t be why I work so hard. I work so hard because I just want to get better. If I work day after day after day, then I know something positive will happen down the road.”
Here’s a look at the Dream Team Coach of the Year, first-team and second-team selections:
COACH OF THE YEAR
Lucas Reynolds
Corona del Mar
Reynolds lost his best player from a year ago in last year’s Dream Team Player of the Year, Jackson Harlan but led a senior-dominated squad to new heights. The Corona del Mar alumnus and longtime assistant coach, in his second year as head man, guided the Sea Kings (26-8) to their first top-division CIF championship game since 2002. Along the way, CdM won the Santa Barbara Invitational for the third straight year and also captured the Memorial Cup title.
FIRST TEAM
Kai Kaneko
ATT | Newport Harbor | Sr.
Kaneko heads to Stanford, along with Ohl, as one of the top recruits in the country. Kaneko debuted with the U.S. senior national team over the summer and was a strong leader again for the Sailors with a “Swiss Army knife” versatility. He scored a match-high four goals in the Open Division title game and was the Open Division Player of the Year, after sharing Sunset League Player of the Year honors with Ohl. The youngest of four brothers, two of whom played water polo at Mater Dei High and Pepperdine, Kaneko cemented his own legacy for the Sailors. He’s a repeat first-team Dream Team selection.
Will Weir
ATT| Corona del Mar | Jr.
Weir, the younger brother of former CdM girls’ water polo standout Reagan Weir, has emerged in his own right for the CdM boys. The 6-foot-6 attacker, a first-team All-Sunset League and All-CIF selection, came on strong in the postseason and led the Sea Kings overall with 88 goals. He added 20 assists and 60 steals. Weir will undoubtedly step up even more after the Sea Kings graduate 16 seniors this year.
Luke Weichert
ATT | Sage Hill| Sr.
Weichert, a left-handed attacker bound for UC Irvine, led the Lightning with his totals of 111 goals, 60 steals and 52 assists. He helped Sage Hill (21-6) reach new heights, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Division 1 playoffs before succumbing to finalist Mater Dei. Weichert, whom coach Pavle Filipovic called the engine and heart of the team, was voted Pacific Coast League MVP even though the Lightning finished second in league to Laguna Beach.
Dylan Williams
ATT | Laguna Beach| Sr.
Williams earned a first-team Dream Team spot last year as a junior, and he did it again as a senior for the Breakers in a historic season. Williams helped Laguna Beach (24-9) win a regular-season program record 24 matches, running off a 14-match winning streak and capturing the Pacific Coast League title. A first-team all-league and all-CIF performer for the second straight year, he was second on the Breakers with 71 goals, adding 21 assists and a team-best 44 steals, helping them make the Open Division in the postseason.
Geoff Slutzky
2M | Newport Harbor | Sr.
Slutzky, bound for Harvard, showed another year of improvement in his second year as primary center for the Sailors. His dominance showed in the Open Division final against CdM, when he scored twice, drew three exclusions and three more penalty shots. Slutzky was a second-team All-Sunset League selection.
Mason Netzer
UTIL | Newport Harbor | Sr.
Netzer, a veteran who has been a big contributor since his sophomore year, was another versatile player for the Sailors. He posted up more this season, providing another weapon to go along with his dangerous outside shooting. Netzer was a first-team all-Sunset League and All-CIF selection. He will continue his career at Cal in the fall.
Ben Kubichek
GK| Corona del Mar | Sr.
Kubichek, a transfer from Mater Dei, provided the Sea Kings with passion between the pipes and seemed to elevate his game during CdM’s postseason run. The younger brother of former CdM football team captain Mason Kubichek, he made 12 saves in one of the team’s signature wins, a 13-11 win at Santa Margarita to advance to the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinals. His play helped hold the Eagles to just two first-half goals.
SECOND TEAM
Position, Name, School, Year
ATT Gavin Goode, Laguna Beach, Sr.
ATT Dash D’Ambrosia, Newport Harbor, Sr.
2M Nathan Simoncelli, Corona del Mar, Sr.
GK Connor Clougherty, Newport Harbor, Sr.
ATT Davis Gruebel, Estancia, Sr.
2M Thomas Emerson, Edison, Sr.
ATT Isaac Squires, Huntington Beach, Sr.
ATT Koosha Mirrafati, Corona del Mar, Jr.
DEF Bobby Ray, Sage Hill, So.
GK Max Jakle, Laguna Beach, Sr.
