The Third Annual Texas Age Group State Water Polo Championships were played this past Sunday, April 25th at the...
...1604 Northside ISD Natatorium in San Antonio, TX. Teams from across the state came to San Antonio to play in two separate coed divisions: 6th Grade & Younger/12U and 8th Grade & younger/14U. Athletes had to meet both criteria to compete in the championship and be USA Water Polo members. Competing in the 6th Grade & Younger Division were Dirty Bay, Cy Fair, and Houston Storm from the Houston area, and Dallas WPC from North Texas. In the 8th Grade & Younger Division, St Marks and Dallas WPC competed from North Texas while Cy Fair, Houston Storm, and Dirty Bay represented the Houston area. San Antonio WPC rounded out the field of six teams in this division.
In the 6th Grade & Younger Division, the four teams played a round robin with the top two teams playing again for the championship. The games were all close in the opening round. Dirty Bay competed tough, but finished in 4th place. Cy Fair, Dallas, and Storm all finished the bracket play with an identical 2-1 win/loss record. USA Water Polo regulations were used to break the tie and determine who competed in the championship game. Cy Fair was the odd team out and finished the tournament in 3rd place. Dallas and Storm then played for the championship with Dallas beating Storm 17-10 in the championship game to take home the 1st Place banner.
In the 8th Grade & Younger Division, the six teams were broken up into two brackets of three. Each bracket then played a round robin to determine the seeding for the championship round of games. In the A Bracket, St Marks finished as the 1st seed by defeating both Dirty Bay and Storm. It was not easy as St Marks narrowly defeated Storm 6-5. Storm did defeat Dirty Bay to secure a spot in one of the semi-finals. In the B Bracket, Cy Fair WPC won both of the their games to take the first seed but had to defeat Dallas in a close 12-10 battle. San Antonio lost both of their games to play for 5th place against Dirty Bay. In this game, Dirty Bay defeated San Antonio 10-7 in a game not decided until the fourth quarter. In the championship round, St Marks defeated Dallas 8-5 in one semi-final while Storm defeated Cy Fair in the other 8-2. Dallas then won the consolation game against Cy Fair 6-5 to take home 3rd place. St Marks and Storm went back and forth for the first half on the 1st place game. St Marks began pulling away in the 3rd and 4th quarters before Storm made a run. St Marks held off Storm late in the 4th quarter closing the game strong and winning 8-6.
Games scores can be found in the 'RESULTS!' section of this site.