By Maya Bourne
The Westmont Girls’ Water Polo team is gearing up to have a fantastic season this year! Coming off a 10-7 season and moving up to the top league this year, the team is preparing to face more difficult teams and hopefully bring home some more league wins! Led by coach Kate Gortovnik, the team of 10 has already played in non-league, league, and tournament games, building confidence and learning new skills in each. Of the four seniors this year, Sofia Chappars and Dharma McInturff have been chosen as this year’s captains and have already shown amazing leadership and athletic abilities. Sophomore Sofia Dockin, who has participated in girls’ water polo for two years now, shares that “my favorite part about our team this year is the teamwork and building new connections with the new and old people.” As the team is smaller this year, the girls have gotten the chance to get closer and connect more with each other. Joining the girls’ water polo team for the first time, Freshman Juliette Guyman looks most forward to “getting to know my teammates and working on communicating in the pool.” Created only a few years ago, the girls’ water polo team is still gaining traction as a Westmont sport, competing against schools from the district and farther away. Come support the girls’ water polo team on September 25 at their home game against Gilroy at 6 p.m. right here at Westmont! They all look forward to the spirit and encouragement from fans at games as one of the less-represented Westmont sports, so be sure to attend and cheer as loud as you can!
Starting up their third season, the Westmont boys water polo team hopes to stay strong after moving up to the top league this year. Led by coaches Jeff Bissell and Scott Adams, the boys’ water polo team gained a phenomenal 15-1 record last year, which the team hopes to keep, competing against more difficult teams this season. Captains Ethan Bissell, Guiseppe Cusmano, and Gibson Chase are ready and geared up to lead their team to even more victories this year. Senior Gibson exclaims “this water polo season I am super excited to push myself to my limit and try to improve myself and my team before I graduate.” he also emphasizes that “the goal for this season is to make CCS and I have confidence in myself and my team that we will continue to improve and grow and reach our goal.” CCS is the final big tournament of the water polo season that only the best teams attend, Westmont hopefully one of them. Another senior, Guiseppe explains “I think this year my team’s strengths are that we get along very well as a team. We are all friends and work really well together. It’s a good group.” Make sure to come support the boys’ next home game on September 25 at 5:00pm against Gilroy. Let’s go boys!