Briefs: Locals help water polo team win Junior Olympics

Luke Wyatt hasn’t forgotten the high school boys’ water polo team that ended his season last year.

Wyatt, a Newport Beach resident, played for Mater Dei in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 final, losing to Studio City Harvard-Westlake, 9-6, in November.

Wyatt saw many familiar Harvard-Westlake faces on Tuesday night.

Wyatt, a member of the Regency Water Polo Club, helped his team to the platinum division final in the under-18 championship tournament at the USA Water Polo Junior Olympic Championships. The opponent was LA Premier, comprised of mostly Harvard-Westlake players.

This time, Wyatt and his Mater Dei teammates who make up Regency beat LA Premier in a shootout at Stanford.

Wyatt scored a goal in the shootout that Regency won, 4-3. The final went to a shootout after the two sides were tied at 7-7.

Regency defended its title, and Wyatt, who will be a junior this high school season, was one of nine Mater Dei players on Regency who live in Newport Beach. The others were incoming seniors Nick Silvers, Peter Seidner, Spencer Carroll, Jeff Delaney and Connor Talleur, future juniors Bennie Seybold and Collin Davis, and incoming freshman Jack Seybold.

Talleur also scored in the shootout and he added two goals in regulation. Wyatt contributed a goal in the first period.

“It was a huge win,” said Wyatt, whose team went 6-1 during the four-day tournament in the San Francisco Bay Area. “We knew it going to be a battle with these guys.

“Even though we lost some big names, to come back and beat these guys meant a lot.”

— From staff reports

Conlogue out, injured

Courtney Conlogue, a Sage Hill School graduate, is going to miss the biggest event in her backyard.

Conlogue has withdrawn from the U.S. Open of Surfing tournament in Huntington Beach because she’s rehabbing an ankle injury she suffered in April. Conlogue almost won the woman’s event last year, before Carissa Moore placed first.

“Withdrawing from the U.S. Open was a tough decision, but my ankle is not 100% yet,” Conlogue said in a statement. “Right now, I’m really trying to do things smarter and with this time off it has been a great opportunity.”

Conlogue, who is ranked No. 10 on the World Championship Tour, has been out of competition since she injured her ankle during a freesurf while competing at the Pro Bells Beach event in Australia three months ago.

The U.S. Open began Friday and ends Sunday.

“I’ve been doing everything I can to be in the water sooner [rather] than later,” Conlogue said, “and doing everything humanly possible to make sure I get back in there.”

— From staff reports