Boys High School Rankings for Week of 9/25/2011

1. Newport
2. Roosevelt
3. Curtis
4. Bellevue
5. Auburn Riverside
6. Bainbridge Island
7. Wilson
8. Rogers
9. Puyallup
10. Auburn Mountainview

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boy sand Girls, Water Polo Fans of all ages; Welcome to the initial rankings of the 2011 Washington State Boys High School Water Polo Rankings!

The 2010 season marked the end of the high school careers of some of the best players in state history.  Some teams are prepared to reload and other will need to rebuild.  During the first three weeks of competition, nothing seems certain, but it does appear that parity in both the north and south leagues has made a welcome return.  Parity makes for a much more exciting season, but it also makes it difficult to rank the teams. However, the Committee's Commodore 64 has crunched the stats and run the  algorithms to produce the initial rankings.

The Newport Knights have earned the No. 1 spot with victories over Mercer Island, Roosevelt, Bellevue, Rogers, Curtis and Bainbridge.  Mind you, none of the victories have been by a large margin, but it is an impressive streak of wins over formidable opponents.  Gotta love parity.  Roosevelt starts off in the No. 2 position. I know they got off to a slow start with a 1 point loss to Bellevue but they defeated Curtis by 1 point at the Fall Festival tournament and have played Newport twice in the last week losing both games by 1 point.  At No. 3, Curtis is a team that just seems to keep reloading year after year and this year is no exception.  The Fall Festival took a toll on their win/loss record, but losses to Newport and Roosevelt are nothing to be ashamed about and the experience will make them stronger as the season progresses.  Look for Curtis to remain the top team in the South with a good chance of returning to the championship game.  Bellevue comes in at No.4 with wins over Roosevelt, Bainbridge Island and Wilson.  Their only loss (that the Committee is aware of) is to Newport and there is still plenty of time to rise in the poll.  Last year, Auburn Riverside debuted an No. 10 in the inaugural rankings and then proceeded to sink into oblivion.  Yes, the Committee noticed a little life at the end of the season but the Committee could not have predicted Auburn Riverside's fantastic start to the 2011 campaign.  Congratulations on winning the Auburn Tournament and welcome back to the rankings at No. 5.  Once upon a time,when the current Bainbridge Island players were babies or possibly embryos,  Bainbridge Island ruled the the world of high school water polo in Washington.  It's been a very long arduous trek since those glory years and no team has paid their dues more than Bainbridge.  It seems the wait is over and Bainbridge Island is once again a force to be reckoned with.  Welcome back!!  Enjoy the warm glow at No. 6 and congratulations on your victory last week over Mercer Island.  The Wilson Rams  have had a batch of close games and  produced victories over Rogers, Enumclaw, and Puyallup that earned them the No. 7 spot.  The Committee can't really penalize Wilson for losses to Auburn Riverside and Bellevue, and we can forgive the season opening loss to Peninsula ( for now ). Rogers, last year's runner up in the SPSL Championships, debuts this year at No. 8.  Rogers has gotten off to a good start, but has taken a few lumps against some north end teams.  As some of the new players gain experience, the Rams could very well  be a factor again in the post season.  At No. 9, this years edition of the Cardiac Kids are the  Puyallup Vikings.  A lot of very close losses to start the season showed that the Vikings were improving, and a strong showing at the Auburn tournament allowed the Vikings to crack the initial 2011 rankings.  Last year,  the Mountainview Lions just missed out on the final rankings.  Their youthful team exceeded expectations and  now all their opponents know they are a threat.  An early season 4-point loss to Curtis shows that the Lions have the ability to contend with anyone.  Time for last year's youth to play like seasoned veterans.  Welcome back to the rankings at No. 10.

For the last 11 years, the Islanders of Mercer Island have dominated high school water polo and produced some of the greatest players in Washington high school history.  This year appears to be a major rebuilding year and Mercer Island is not in the initial rankings.  To the Committee's knowledge, the Islander's  have 4 losses in their division which probably equals the total number of losses they had in the previous 11 seasons combined.  The season is young and unlike previous years, there really is no clearly dominant team in Washington.  Don't be too quick in counting the Islanders out.  Maybe its a good year to be rebuilding when parity seems to be a common theme.