Varsity girls water polo ties CIF record

Varsity girls water polo team achieves a 19-0 record through a series of team building and new practice strategies, tying the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) record and making history at Walnut.

This accomplishment surpasses the previous records from Walnut set in 2012 and 2022, where past Walnut teams held a winning streak of five in 2012 and six games in 2022, respectively. Aside from their unmatched record, this season has also celebrated multiple individual achievements. Waggoner celebrated her 400th save as a goalie and junior, Suemi Cabral, broke the water polo program record with her 140th steal.

“We definitely did not expect [the streak]. It’s not something that we had achieved as a team before because in previous years we lost a lot. This season was really different for us as we all really worked together as a family,” goalie junior Ava Waggoner said.

Starting their training during the summer, the team participated in several drills and programs for scrimmages. This training initially tested their communication and teamwork skills, but with time and effort, they all strengthened their trust in one another and felt more confident in their abilities as a team.

“The team was doing club activities during the summer and during preseason, and they got to go to the Junior Olympics this summer. [This] really helped with their winning streak and how everything is going this season,” head coach Ashley Garcia said.

Through the multiple games, they had their ups and downs but showed all their improvement in a pivotal match against Claremont on Dec. 19. The lady Mustangs overpowered Claremont’s offense and performed quick steals and efficient passes that ended with the score of 10-4. 

“There were definitely new practices and warm-ups that were changed and added, but I think the biggest thing that changed was their attitudes and making sure that we’re coming in positive and ready to work every day. The girls have been playing with each other since freshman year, and we’ve had this specific group together for a while where they’ve been building chemistry,” Garcia said.

The team encountered several challenges, including player injuries, difficult losses and weather conditions that delayed or canceled practices. However, they overcame these trials by emphasizing their growth and perseverance. Trying new methods to motivate and inspire the team, coach Garcia introduced them to multiple films that dealt with reteaching the basics and showing professional teams’ play.

“We would have team conversations at the beginning of practice and talk about what we did, what we did wrong in that last game [and] what we could do better. I think that really helped us and we made a lot of improvements from our mistakes,” Waggoner said.

Their major leap of success from last season’s consecutive wins of three resulted from the long practice hours the team has worked to hone their swimming skills and speed with swim practices to improve stamina. Drills were practiced to focus on the different placement strategies and scenarios, which helped the players think on their feet.

“Our team has changed greatly because we all learned how to work with each other better and now that we have more game experience, we can take it and do better for the next season,” wing senior Emma Baca said.

“This win means that it can show the girls that no matter what type of season, the next season is always open to any possibility. We can break the streak again, or we can go do a new streak or break a new CIF record. The possibilities are truly endless, and we’re going to find a way to do the best things that we can,” Garcia said.