Burnaby came away kings in the water polo pool at the B.C. Summer Swimming Championships last week.
The Barracuda club medalled at all four age divisions, including gold in both the under-16 and -18 coed divisions at the provincial championships in Victoria.
Keith Jung led the senior team to a 9-7 victory over Abbotsford, while u-16 call-up Sofia Napolitano scored some key goals for the unbeaten u-18 team.
The u-16’s also won a gold following a 5-3 win over Coquitlam. Hadley Gunther, with a strong two-way performance, and Yale Cross led the way for Burnaby.
Gian Carlos Marquez and strong defender Martina Blazevic helped the Barracudas to a silver medal at u-12. Burnaby lost in the final 16-11 to the Haney Neptunes.
Burnaby also came away with a bronze over the Crescent Beach Swim Club at u-14. Noor Ali Mohamad and Jovan Ivezic turned in strong performances at the provincials.
“We’re very happy,” said Raymond Leung, the club’s water polo rep. “We had some pretty lofty goals to improve our standings.”
Following an uncompetitive season last year, the club made the decision to invest in more pool time for the water polo program and bring back some Barracuda alumni to help coach, said Leung.
With Daniel Tausan as head coach, along with Sever Topan, Erica Marquez and former national-age group butterfly champion Andre Kudaba, registration from last year doubled to 80 swimmers this season, said Leung.
