By: Beth Ward, Transcript correspondent
Ohio Wesleyan University’s water polo club team had the opportunity to host the Women’s State High School Water Polo Championships. Preliminaries were held on Friday, Oct.
23 and finals on Saturday, Oct. 24.
The OWU water polo club has hosted the event for the past three years at the Meek Aquatics Center to earn money for their water polo fund. Each year ten teams compete for the
title of Ohio High School Water Polo Champions.
The OWU water polo club was responsible for the setup and tear down of the facility, concessions and life-guarding. Concessions were open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, with two
members of the team doing sales. All profits went to the water polo club team.
The OWU team also provided three lifeguards for every hour. Each lifeguard was paid $10 an hour, and all funds made by lifeguards went to the water polo club team.
“The money will be used to help pay for entrance fees at tournaments, transportation, lodging, and the purchasing of new equipment this year,” said senior Bryce Uzzolino, head of the
OWU water polo club team.
Nicki Stanley, head of Meek’s facility and assistance coach, said that the water polo club did a fantastic job hosting the women’s state championships.
“Everything went smoothly, there were not accidents and there were always multiple members of the team here to help. They will be hosting this event again next year to raise money
for the 2017 season,” said Stanley.
The water polo club team is going into its fourth year of competing at a division three level. The team has been small in size over the past three years because of low funds.
Uzzolino hopes that the money raised will help spread word about the club team and allow them to purchase the equipment they need to train properly for the season.
Uzzolino and Stanley will have a meeting in the upcoming weeks to discuss what the water polo club can purchase with the funds earned, to prepare for the upcoming season that
starts February 2016.