After finishing fourth in state last year, the girls’ water polo team begins its training early to start their 2009 season off strongly.
The team lost seniors Kara Wilson, hole set, and Sam Shamburek, hole guard, who both graduated last year.
Wilson was an all-state water polo player with over 100 goals in a season.
“Because we lost [Wilson and Shamburek] it may be hard to fill their positions because of the importance of those positions,” junior Victoria Davis said.
Despite the losses, the team has five returning starters from last year.
Seniors Emily Wooten and Haley Nelson, and juniors Victoria Davis, Claire Fleming, and goalie Sam Virella are all returning players for the upcoming season.
Both the girls and head coach Jeff Plackett have a positive outlook for the season.
“We’ve gotten to a point where my goal for the girls is just to be satisfied. But I think if you asked any of the girls, they would definitely like to make it farther in state,” Plackett said.
Davis agrees.
“One goal we have for this season is definitely make it to state and place higher than fourth this year,” Davis said.
Some competition for the team this year is Naperville North, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley.
“All four Naperville schools…are always on top. They’re all major competition for us,” Plackett said.
The team began their open conditioning on Jan. 12 and tryouts are March 2. They began early this year to get in shape for the season.
“I think we have a really good opportunity to do well because we really worked well as a team last year, and I think that will carry over to this year,” Davis said.
Rachel Oswalt
News Editor