Watching 6-foot-6, 220-pound Connor Ohl of Newport Harbor High play water polo is just like a Great White Shark sighting. You’re shocked and in awe.
He’s water polo’s model of a dashing dolphin within the pool, capable of speed up so quick together with his lengthy arms and highly effective legs that few can stick with him. He gained the Southern Section Division 1 50-yard freestyle title final spring and broke 20 seconds in a league meet (19.79), so beware to those that assume he’s not as quick as marketed.
Then comes his measurement and energy. He may very well be a soccer participant as a result of physicality comes naturally. Being the youngest of three water polo taking part in brothers, it was sink or swim within the Ohl family rising up in Greenwich, Conn. One brother performs for Stanford, the place Connor will quickly be part of him. Another performs at Princeton.
Connor moved to Orange County final yr for his junior season so he may very well be a part of what he calls “the water polo hub of America.”
This previous summer season, he was the youngest participant on the USA junior nationwide workforce that earned a silver medal on the under-20 world championships in Croatia.
“It was such a crazy experience,” he mentioned.
First there was taking part in the host workforce in entrance of screaming followers in an indoor pool. “Oh my God, It was so loud,” he mentioned. “They had drummers. You couldn’t hear yourself think.”
Then there was taking part in Serbia, identified for its physicality. He was a boy going towards males. “It’s insane,” he mentioned. “Some are built like refrigerators.”
What Ohl realized from his worldwide expertise will assist him immensely throughout a highschool season during which Newport Harbor is the defending Southern Section champion and closely favored to win once more. The Sailors are off to a 6-0 begin.
Ben Liechty, Peter Castillo, Connor Ohl and Gavin Appeldorn, from left, represented Newport Harbor on the Under-20 World Championships in Croatia.
(Courtesy of Newport Harbor water polo)
“Going from high school water polo to the junior level is like night and day,” he mentioned. “These juniors have been playing basically their whole life — Spain, Hungary, Croatia. They worship water polo. It’s made me a lot more physical. Coming back to high school, it’s made me more confident to defend and control people with my strength and size.”
With the arrival of the Anderson brothers, Tyler and Sean, from JSerra, Newport Harbor begins out as maybe the most effective workforce within the nation.
“We could be a football team with as big as we are in water polo,” Ohl mentioned.
Corona del Mar, JSerra, Oaks Christian and Harvard-Westlake hope to supply resistance.
Ohl is the latest Southern California product who can’t wait to symbolize the USA within the Olympic Games, which occur to be coming to Los Angeles in 2028. The Dodd brothers, Ryder and Chase, from JSerra and Huntington Beach, performed within the 2024 Olympic Games.
It might be one of many hardest groups to make due to the expertise and depth with so many gamers again from 2024.
“My chances are as good as anyone else,” Ohl mentioned. “That’s my dream. I just want to represent my country at the Olympics.”
Meanwhile, if you wish to see somebody who can swim as quick as a fish, try a Newport Harbor water polo match. That’s Connor Ohl, the dashing bullet.