Seniors Nicole Starha and Chris Bate earned Most Valuable Player honors for the Husky water polo squad during a desert Thursday evening.
Starha led the girls squad with 72 goals, 15 assists and 10 steals.
“Nicole is an extremely talented player,” Coach Rene Kirkland said. “She still has room for growth. If she chooses to play at a community college, she will do very well.”
Kirkland said Starha is an aggressive player, “is very smart and instinctive.”
Bate hammered in 62 goals for the Huskies who finished 10-4.
He added 12 steals and 15 assists.
Both Starha and Bate were first team all-league picks and are four year letter winners.
“Chris is the most diverse player we have,” Coach Kirkland said. “He can handle so many positions and be successful. He’s like Adam Cheek was a few years ago.”
Coach Kirkland said Bate would like to continue to play water polo after high school and will “continue to improve” if he does.
Earning the outstanding defense award was junior Amber Larsen and co-winners for the boys were seniors Jeff Ecker and Frank Coulter.
“Amber was thrown into the pool after playing goal for two years and she did an outstanding job for us,” Coach Kirkland said. “We moved her into the hole position and she didn’t allow many goals.”
Ecker scored 32 goals, had eight steals and seven assists.
“He’s the fastest kid on the team,” Coach Kirkland said without hesitation. “We called on him to chase down a lot of opponents and he did a very good job for us.”
Coulter really came on this season, Coach Kirkland noted.
“Frank always listened and did whatever was asked of him,” Coach Kirkland said. “He was an important part of our defensive plan.”
Coulter also scored 31 goals for the Huskies.
“I wish we had these guys for another two years,” Coach Kirkland said.
The hustle award was presented to Krystal Streight, a sophomore and Sean Martin, a junior.
“This was Krystal’s first year and she hustled at all times,” Coach Kirkland said. “She tried to get back on defense after every play. If she swims this summer, she’s going to be even tougher next year.”
Sean Martin letters for his third year but spent much of last year injured, Coach Kirkland said.
“Sean was everywhere,” she said. “I never had to ask him to get somewhere faster. He always gave 110%. He had his best game of the season in our last outing against Sheldon. We asked him to play in so many positions but he came through every time.”
Overall, the Husky boys scored 139 goals and had 43 steals.
“Defense was our strength,” Coach Kirkland said. “Our offense progressed as the season went along.”
Senior Brandon Caswell was solid at goal, blocking 32 shots and freshman James Davis added 23 blocks.
“For the boys, the season was too short,” Coach Kirkland said. “We peaked at the perfect time but then didn’t play well in our last game.”
The girls squad played the entire season with too few players.
“It was hard for the girls to remain up when they knew that even if they won the game, it didn’t count as a win,” Coach Kirkland said. “They stuck with it though and in their last game, only lost by four goals to Sheldon and Sheldon went on to the state tournament.”
Letter winners on the boys team were Chris Bate, Jeff Ecker, Sean Martin, Frank and Larry Coulter, Jeff Stratman, Brandon Caswell and James Davis.
JV certificates went to Justin and John Seiber.
Letter winners for the girls were Nicole Starha, Amber Larsen, Ashley Anderson, Katie Jones, Krystal Streight and Elizabeth Anderson.
Anderson, a first year player, blocked 59 goals.
“I had a great time this season with these kids,” Coach Kirkland said. “I’m going to miss this group of seniors a lot.”