Connor Ohl is Newport Harbors latest water polo | College News
Watching 6-foot-6, 220-pound Connor Ohl of Newport Harbor High play water polo is comparable to a Great White Shark sighting. You’re shocked and in awe.
He’s water polo’s model of a dashing dolphin in the pool, ready to speed up so fast with his long arms and highly effective legs that few can keep with him. He gained the Southern Section Division 1 50-yard freestyle title last spring and broke 20 seconds in a league meet (19.79), so beware to those who assume he’s not as fast as marketed.
Then comes his measurement and strength. He may very well be a soccer participant because physicality comes naturally. Being the youngest of three water polo taking part in brothers, it was sink or swim in the Ohl family growing up in Greenwich, Conn. One brother performs for Stanford, where Connor will soon be a part of him. Another performs at Princeton.
Connor moved to Orange County last yr for his junior season so he may very well be half of what he calls “the water polo hub of America.”
This past summer season, he was the youngest participant on the USA junior national workforce that earned a silver medal at the under-20 world championships in Croatia.
“It was such a crazy experience,” he said.
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 said. “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 against males. “It’s insane,” he said. “Some are built like refrigerators.”
What Ohl discovered from his worldwide expertise will help him immensely during a high college season in which Newport Harbor is the defending Southern Section champion and closely favored to win again. The Sailors are off to a 6-0 start.
Ben Liechty, Peter Castillo, Connor Ohl and Gavin Appeldorn, from left, represented Newport Harbor at 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 said. “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 best workforce in the nation.
“We could be a football team with as big as we are in water polo,” Ohl said.
Corona del Mar, JSerra, Oaks Christian and Harvard-Westlake hope to offer resistance.
Ohl is the latest Southern California product who can’t wait to signify the USA in 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 in the 2024 Olympic Games.
It will probably be one of the hardest groups to make because of the expertise and depth with so many gamers back from 2024.
“My chances are as good as anyone else,” Ohl said. “That’s my dream. I just want to represent my country at the Olympics.”
Meanwhile, if you need to see somebody who can swim as fast as a fish, take a look at a Newport Harbor water polo match. That’s Connor Ohl, the dashing bullet.
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