Water polo team wins championship in state interscholastic tournament 

Atascadero High School water polo champion team. Photo by Susan Holt Clark.

Short parade will celebrate accomplishment

– Atascadero High School‘s water polo team recently took home the championship at the California Interscholastic Federation tournament and will star in a short one-way parade featuring the Atascadero Police Department and Atascadero Fire Department on Wednesday, Dec. 15.

The parade starts at Atascadero High School at 2:45 p.m. and ends at the Sunken Gardens near City Hall at 3 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear the school colors of orange and gray to show support and cheer for the athletes.

The police will escort the parade, as the varsity athletes ride in fire trucks.

It’s the first water polo championship in the school’s 100-year-long history. The team had to win four games to earn the title of champions.

According to Susan Holt Clark, the second game against Ernest Righetti High School was tied up until the last second when the goalie Curran Hoxie hit a full pool length buzzer-beater. It’s the first time in 25 years that the school has won against Righetti.

“The best Disney movie moment,” Clark said about the shot.

According to the coach Jon Conrad, the team began training in early August with workouts in the morning and afternoon five days a week. The athletes averaged 4,000 yards in conditioning in the morning and worked on water polo specific skills in the afternoon.

“I am so proud and honored to be able to coach the boys at Atascadero High School,” said the coach Jon Conrad.