Boys’ Water Polo Preview: Carpenter still going strong

The last time that the Estancia High boys’ water polo program had numbers like this, it was half a lifetime ago for Coach John Carpenter.

There are 35 boys in the program this year. The Eagles have three levels — frosh-soph, junior varsity and varsity — for the first time since the early 1980s.

Numbers like these are more important to Carpenter than his own age. He turns 61 next month, and he’s in his 36th year coaching boys’ water polo and swimming at Estancia, along with one year at Saddleback in 1983.

When Newport Harbor girls’ water polo Coach Bill Barnett retires after this year, Carpenter will be the longest tenured head aquatics coach in the Newport-Mesa area. Make that head coach, period.

Carpenter said he’s not going for the record of Barnett, who is in his 48th year coaching at Harbor. But his decades at Estancia are definitely long enough to see the cycles that are a part of high school athletics, both up and down. The Eagles have gone winless in the Orange Coast League for the last two years, yet Carpenter is still out there on the pool deck every day.

“I still enjoy it,” Carpenter said. “It’s still fun. When you are able to work with kids and elevate them to another level, I take pride in doing that. You have to set goals for yourself. If you can get kids whose skills are limited coming in, and within a year or so move them up so that they’re actually playing better, then sometimes that has to be a goal.

“There were years we didn’t win any league games, and I told the kids, ‘That’s not a losing season.’ It is by the record, but there’s other intangibles.”

Maybe working with the kids keeps Carpenter young. He does plenty of that, as the science department chair and a biology teacher at Estancia.

When he’s not in the classroom or on the deck, he’s been a seasonal junior lifeguard instructor in Newport Beach for close to 45 years.

Carpenter needs to keep up. So he lifts weights and runs with his wife, Liz.

“I go out of my way to stay in shape,” John Carpenter said. “I run with them, I swim with them, I paddle with them, I pier jump with them. Anything that’s done, I do it with them.”

In boys’ water polo, Estancia has struggled since finishing second in league in 2010. Carpenter hopes the school can get a 50-meter pool, “sooner rather than later.”

Until then, he will advise his players to go play for Costa Mesa Aquatics Club at Costa Mesa High. Two Eagles, senior Eli Sperling and sophomore Jason Chesemore, have done so extensively in the off-season. Carpenter has a good working relationship with CMAC and its director, Estancia graduate Jose De La Jara.

“We never really had anyone play club,” Carpenter said. “Before Mesa, what was available? Well, they could go over to Newport, which is pretty intimidating. I think Huntington Beach had a club program for a while. So, it wasn’t easily accessible, and no one had done it ... Eli and Jason played solid for the whole off-season, the whole year. They are head and shoulders better than they were last year. Head and shoulders. I mean, it’s just so obvious, and the kids can see that.

“Yes, it’s a little more inconvenient to drive to Mesa than drive here [to Estancia], but that’s where the program is. We’re starting to see the rewards.”

Carpenter, whose daughters Kylie (swimming and water polo) and Taylor (soccer and swimming) both came through Estancia in recent years, is seeing the rewards at multiple levels. The boosters have worked hard to provide touches like a new 50-inch television for the team room, and an HD camcorder to record games. The program’s fireworks stand this summer netted a record $21,000 of income.

In addition, Carpenter’s enthusiastic junior varsity coach, Mitch White, returns for his third season. White, whom Carpenter has known for decades, is a former lifeguard captain in Newport Beach and is now retired. His daughter, Brandi, is a talented junior at Estancia who swims and plays soccer, while his son, Cobi, is a freshman vying for a spot on the varsity boys’ water polo team.

Yes, things are looking up for the Eagles, who have eight seniors this year and a goal to return to the CIF playoffs. They now know just how to play, and that goes a long way.

“[Carpenter] teaches us a lot of the basic stuff, and he teaches us to do it very well,” Sperling said. “We’ve got the fundamentals down really well.”

If Carpenter has his way, the down cycles won’t be so bad with the numbers up in the program. But there is no target year for stepping down from coaching, at least not yet.

“I could see going two or three more years,” he said. “At some point, it’s not because you want to retire. It’s just, I’ve been doing it 40 years, so it’s time to do something else. Should I keep going for 10 more? Sure, I could. Not likely.”

Coaching continues to stay fresh for Carpenter, as opposed to just playing out the string on a lengthy career.

“This is a new season, new group of kids, new chemistry, new everything,” Carpenter said. “It’s not like you’re coaching 37 years and going, ‘Oh, another year.’ It’s a new set of kids with new goals and new objectives, new things to work on.”

Here’s a 2014 outlook for the five Newport-Mesa boys’ water polo programs:

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Corona del Mar

Coach: Barry O’Dea (10th year)

Players to watch: Jack Trush (Sr.); Ashton Jajonie (Sr.); Ben Brooks (Jr.); Brendan Hack (Jr.); Garrett Spruth (Sr.); Jack Rodosky (Sr.); Jack Klein (Sr.); Patrick Ong (Sr.); Nigel Bress (Sr.); Gabe Dickens (Jr.); Andres White (Jr.)

You should know: O’Dea believes that his team is better than its No. 7 initial ranking in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll. He also believes his team is better than last year’s squad, which pushed Mater Dei last year in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals and shared the Pacific Coast League title with Northwood.

Trush and Jajonie are dynamic players who will lead the deep Sea Kings this year. Trush, a Newport-Mesa Dream Team selection a year ago, is known as a very talented defender, but O’Dea said he won’t set like he did last year. Brooks, who is 6-foot-5 and received significant playing time last year, may emerge as a dominant center this season.

O’Dea is also proud to have a couple of alumni coaching this year. Lucas Reynolds (class of 2009), who played at UCLA, is working with the varsity. Nick Jones (class of 2007), who played at the University of Redlands, is working with the lower levels.

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Costa Mesa

Coaches: Cody and Dustin Serrano (first year)

Players to watch: Matt Brown (Sr.); Raymond Andrade (Sr.); Quinn Smith (Sr.); Ivan Shikhelman (Jr.); Jacob Petersen (Soph); Nick Warner (Soph.); Corbin Fisher (Soph.)

You should know: The Serrano twins, who took over the program in July after Justin Taylor resigned, are excited about the prospects for their alma mater. The Mustangs lost Newport-Mesa Dream Team goalie James Rydjeski, who transferred to Edison, but Dustin Serrano said he believes Shikhelman also has great potential as a goalie. Dustin said that Shikhelman, who stands about 6-foot-4, is an emotional leader.

The three seniors are very solid and the Mustangs’ future is also bright. A very talented freshman class of five players has made varsity, Dustin Serrano said.

Overall, the goal is not only to make the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs but to challenge Laguna Beach for the Orange Coast League title. Dustin Serrano said he sees the program as a top 10 program in Division 3, though the Mustangs didn’t crack the top 10. Laguna Beach opens the season ranked No. 1 in Division 3.

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Estancia

Coach: John Carpenter (36th year)

Players to watch: Eli Sperling (Sr.); Jason Chesemore (Soph.); Chris DeFrenza (Jr.); Will O’Dell (Sr.); Cesar Coto (Sr.); Cody Nelson (Sr.); Aaron Will (Sr.); Kyle Fitzgerald (Soph.)

You should know: The Eagles have gone winless in the Orange Coast League each of the last two years, finishing last place each time. But they are excited for 2014, as they bring back their whole starting cast.

Players like Sperling and Chesemore have been reaping the benefits of playing solid club water polo with Costa Mesa Aquatics Club. Carpenter said that Coto projects as the starting goalkeeper, but he was hurt during preseason conditioning. Nelson can play either in goal or in the field for Estancia.

Overall, Estancia is pushing to have a strong, speedy counterattack more than in years past. Annual league champion Laguna Beach may prove too strong, but Carpenter feels his team can contend with the rest of the teams in league. The last time the Eagles made the CIF playoffs and beat rival Costa Mesa was in 2010, when they finished second in league.

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Newport Harbor

Coach: Marco Palazzo (first year)

Players to watch: Clay Davison (Sr.); Jack Mooers (Sr.); Charlie Padden (Sr.); Nick Wood (Sr.); Ryan Taylor (Jr.); Joe Ferraro (Jr.); Ben Morrison (Jr.); Gavin Kunkle (Jr.); Luke Bradbury (Sr.); Nick Schroeder (Sr.); Ryan Hurst (Soph.); Hannes Daube (Fr.).

You should know: The Sailors lost one Italian, as Newport-Mesa Player of the Year Luca Cupido graduated and is now at Cal. They gained another, as Palazzo was named the interim coach Aug. 19 to replace Robert Lynn, who resigned after three seasons. Palazzo, like Lynn, was an assistant coach on the 2012 U.S. Olympic men’s water polo team.

The Sailors, who won their fifth straight Sunset League title and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals last year, have a good amount of senior leadership. Davison is a three-year varsity player and the team captain, while Schroeder is a good defender, along with Morrison. Newport Harbor also has three able goalies, in Wood, Taylor and Ferraro.

Newport Harbor, ranked No. 6 in the Division 1 preseason poll, started slow in its first two games, both losses, to Coronado and Long Beach Wilson. Palazzo will look to correct that at this weekend’s challenging Santa Barbara tournament.

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Sage Hill

Coach: Tom Norton (ninth year)

Players to watch: Chris Wan (Jr.); Ethan Nobles (Sr.); Zach Drobenko (Sr.); Michael Phan (Sr.); Harry Miller (Jr.); Zane Drobenko (Fr.); Rachael Jaffe (Jr.); Paige Solaas (Soph.).

You should know: Sage Hill came very close to making the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs last year, dropping a one-goal decision to Saddleback to finish fourth in the Orange Coast League. Norton said that the goal this year is to make the postseason, which might have to include a win over rival Costa Mesa.

The Lightning will miss two-meter man Arya Nakhjavani, a three-time Newport-Mesa Dream Team selection who was lost to graduation. But Wan comes in with plenty of experience as a three-year varsity player. Zach Drobenko will both play in the field and share time in the goal with Jaffe, who is one of two girls on the team along with Solaas.

Norton also is excited about the addition of Miller, a transfer from CdM, along with freshman Zane Drobenko, Zach’s younger brother.