Youth Scene: Great day for Anteater club

The Anteater Water Polo Club earned first- and second-place finishes in the fourth annual Pacific Winter Water Polo Classic in San Diego Sunday.

The Newport Beach based-club ended the weekend winning the 14-and-under girls’ division, and losing in the finals in the 14-and-under boys’ division.

To win their bracket, the girls defeated Riverside Red, 6-3, and tournament host Pacific Polo, 14-3. In the semifinals, they beat Huntington Beach, 10-3, and earned the championship medals with a 6-4 win over Riverside White, who had won the other bracket. It was a combination of good defense, balanced and patient offense and quality goaltending.

The team is, Coach Marc Hunt, Coach Christine McDonald Hunt, Heidi Ritner, Shannon Frome, Kelly Morgan, Jaleh Moaddeli, Paige Solaas, Kate Pipkin, Coach Marina Mayer and Coach Jesse Briggs. Bridgett Storm, Brianna Westrup, Eliza Britt, Emma Frerichs, Maddy Musselman and Grace Morgan.

The Anteater boys started the tournament off strong with a solid 21-6 win over La Jolla, but ended in second place in their bracket after a 13-7 loss to host Pacific Polo. However, a strong 15-5 semifinal win over Carlsbad, who had won the other bracket, put them in the final for a rematch with Pacific Polo. The score was tied, 4-4, at the half, but Pacific jumped out to a quick second-half lead, and the Anteaters were never able to catch up, losing, 11-9, to end with the second-place medals.

— Reader submission

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Newport-Mesa NJB

Tar Heels take over first place

The Newport-Mesa Tar Heels boys’ eighth- grade All-Net team improved to 6-2 on the season and took over first place with three big wins last weekend.

The Tar Heels beat the San Clemente Tritons, 59-43, Huntington Beach Chargers, 56-39, and the Walnut Panthers, 58-32.

Led by the scoring of Max Kline (11.83 points per game), Kevin Fults (8.87 ppg) and Cole Norris (7.28 ppg), the Tar Heels have gone 5-0 since opening the season 1-2.

Riley Gaddis (5.6 rebounds per ame, 4.5 steals per game), Charlie Evans (5.4 rpg, 6 ppg), Logan Miller (4.85 ppg, 3.67 assists per game), Justin Hess (4.85 ppg, 6.5 rpg), Augie Miller (4.5 rpg, 2.5 blocks per game), Max Stanley (3 apg, 2.2 spg) and Caleb O’Neil (4.8 rpg, 4.25 ppg) have played key roles in every game as the balanced scoring has improved the team chemistry.

The Tar Heels are coached by Scott Stucki and Eric Fults.

— Reader submission