CdM’s Berry headed for Cal Bears

Corona del Mar High senior Mike Berry has signed with Cal to play men’s water polo.

Berry, a 6-foot left-handed driver, led the Sea Kings with 80 goals last season as they won the Pacific Coast League championship, and eventually reached the CIF Southern Section Division I quarterfinals.

Berry, the MVP of the Pacific Coast League and a two-year varsity starter, was also named to the All-CIF Southern Section Division I first-team.

“He was really our main guy this year in a lot of ways,” CdM Coach Barry O’Dea said. “He has a great work ethic. He’s talked to some of our sophomores about how he worked hard from his junior year to his senior year, and now he’s going to Cal. It’s pretty neat, because he’s a positive influence on those guys. He’s proud of himself, and he should be.”

Berry said he liked the UC Berkeley campus from the first time he saw it in his sophomore year, when he took a trip up north with former CdM Coach Sam Bailey.

“It was actually one of the first colleges I’d seen,” said Berry, who was also considering UC Santa Barbara and USC. “On my recruiting trip, I liked the guys, and I’ve always liked Northern California.”

Cal already features Sea Kings standouts like senior John Mann. The two-time first-team All-American helped lead the Golden Bears to the NCAA Division I championship last fall, when they won their 12th national title over USC, 7-6. Cal was also the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament champion.

Berry said he has also talked to Cal sophomore Thomas Pearson, another CdM alumnus.

“He said he loved it, he loved the team,” Berry said. “He was particularly complimentary of the coaches. Compared to some other schools, he felt that he

could work better with the coaches that [Cal] had.”

Berry also credits O’Dea.

“He was a very good coach this year,” Berry said. “He kind of planned out my role on the team from the beginning. I definitely think my high school career has prepared me well for college.”

Berry will swim, along with teammates Yutaro Yamashita, R.J. Baldoni and Brian Peotter, in the finals of the 400-yard freestyle relay Friday at the Division I championship finals.

“He didn’t slack off during swim season,” O’Dea said. “He worked really hard to get this point. I’m really impressed by how much he worked to get better.”

— Matt Szabo