Area players have golden memories

Clair Babinski and Monique Wilson said they both felt shocked.

Leah Trella said it didn’t sink in until the following day.

A gold medal was the goal for all three local girls’ water polo players, and they accomplished it Sunday at Stanford University. Each played key roles as the El Toro-based SET 18-and-under team won the Platinum Division at the Junior Olympics, topping Diablo, 7-5, in the final.

“I still feel kind of in shock,” said Babinski, a senior-to-be at Edison High and the starting goalie. “It’s hard to grasp winning a big national event. I’m just really proud of the team. I’ve never won anything at this level before; it was just a great experience.”

Wilson, a recent Edison graduate headed to the University of Hawaii, was a key defender for SET. Trella, who just graduated from Huntington Beach High and is headed to UCLA, was an attacker and scored a goal in the final.

Factors seemed to go against SET, even though it was the top seed in the tournament. Top players like Stanford-bound Annika Dries of Laguna Beach and UCLA-bound Brooke Martin of Chaparral (Temecula) were missing at JOs because they’re on the USA Water Polo women’s junior national team, preparing for next week’s Junior World Championships in Russia. SET also lost to Diablo, 5-4, in a Platinum Division match Friday, making it necessary to play three times Saturday while Diablo only played once. But SET didn’t give up, topping San Diego Shores (12-5), Los Angeles Water Polo Club (7-4) and Commerce (7-5) to advance to the semifinals, where the locals topped SOCAL Black, 5-3.

“It’s not everyday that someone goes back door,” Wilson said. “When you lose early, it crushes you. Each game after that was the championship match for us, so to speak.”

But Wilson said Coach Brad Schumacher kept the team fired up, watching the movie, “300,” among other things, to get pumped up for the final.

“We went up 3-0 in the first two minutes [of the championship match],” Wilson said. “I think we were just so pumped. We knew we had to bring it hard. We knew we had to set the tone early.”

SET’s Larissa Colton (Tesoro/Michigan) and Natasha Schulman (Laguna Beach/UCLA) were named co-Most Valuable Players of the tournament.

The SET team also played at the Santa Barbara club championships and the 20-and-under championships with mixed results, Trella said, and she and several of her teammates have been on the Junior National Team as well.

“It’s been a really long year,” Trella said. “Larissa, Natasha and I tried out for the Junior Worlds team and got cut ... [but] every single girl on that [SET] team had dreamed about winning Junior Olympics. To finally get the outcome I had always wanted, all the time and the pain were worth it.”

Wilson said it was a fitting end to a special journey.

“Everyone wants to beat you because you’re No. 1,” she said. “There was a lot of pressure there, but we also worked really hard and deserved it.

“We were ready to win.”

?The Huntington Beach Water Polo Club, coached by two-time Olympian Natalie Benson, also had a successful showing at Junior Olympics. The 16-and-under girls’ team, featuring five Edison players in Abigail Oshiro, Alys Williams, Jessica Becker, Ashley Dorman and Kimber De Salvo, placed third in the Platinum Division. The team also featured Fountain Valley’s Kayla Robert and Katie Stewart.

Club director Alex Alvarez said it’s the best the club has ever done in a high school girls’ division.

The 18-and-under team, featuring Edison’s Danielle Warde and Haley Kunert, placed 12th in the Platinum Division.

The 16-and-under team also had an impressive showing at the boys’ Junior Olympics. The team featured Edison’s William Menke, John Mroch and Gregory Carter, as well as Huntington Beach High’s John Lovat, Max Schultz, Patrick Shearer, Griffin Camps, Jameson Shively, Ian Arnold, Wes Kobel, Jordan Lisnock and Hunter Giron.