It’s not 2015 anymore, when Claremont boys water polo seemed to win every game effortlessly.

Now the Pack has to work a little harder, which may be a good development. It certainly seemed so on Tuesday when Claremont narrowly defeated Glendora, 10-9, in Palomares League action at CHS.

The boys came out strong and built a sizeable lead, outscoring the Tartans, 4-1, with goals from Ryan Scott, Alex Stockwell, Ian Waasdorp and Mason Stark.

The second quarter was evenly split with both teams scoring four times—goals for the Pack came from Seth Eshelman, Tyler Rousseve, Waasdorp and Scott. However, because the score started out so lopsided, Claremont retained a sizeable lead and looked like they would get an easy win.

All that changed in the third quarter when Claremont got skunked, 0-3, tying the game at eight.

This set up a dramatic fourth quarter and the best competition of the night. It was still tied with 1:30 left in regulation time when Rousseve put Claremont in front with a strong shot from the left side. However, Glendora was not going down easy and Chris Greer tied the game again just nine seconds later.

Claremont failed to capitalize on the next possession and it was the Tartans’ ball with 1:10 on the clock. But the Pack’s goalkeeper Enrique Roybal came up with the crucial save, prompting Glendora to call a time out with 45 seconds to go.

Claremont caught a bit of luck when a shot from Jack Kruze was accidently deflected by a Glendora defender and found the net, putting the Pack back in the lead.

With a scant 32 seconds to score and force the game into overtime, Glendora was motivated, but Roybal got yet another key save. As he chased the ball, two Tartans cornered him and tried to steal, prompting Coach Kristin Rodriguez to rescue him by calling a time out.

That was all Claremont needed and they ran the remaining seven seconds out for the win.

Claremont’s unofficial MVP has to be Roybal, who kept the Wolfpack in the game when the offense soured in the second half.

“We were playing to the score, 7-2, and it backfired and woke us up real quick,” Coach Rodriguez said about losing the five-point lead.

“They got out of rhythm a bit. We have had moments when we actually play really well, then we have moments when our passes are off,” she said. “We threw the ball away quite a few times.”

Tuesday’s game was the second nail-biter in a row for Claremont having gone into triple overtime at home against Diamond Bar last Wednesday, eventually getting the 8-7 win.

“We like to keep it close here in this pool, trying to keep the fans coming back,” Coach Rodriguez said with a bit of a smirk.

It’s a very competitive Palomares League this season, with exception of undefeated Ayala, which looks to be unbeatable.

“Ayala is very strong, they are really senior heavy, but after that it’s a pretty equal playing field,” said Coach Rodriguez. “We lost to Bonita by one [goal], so technically we are in third [place] but we see them next week at their pool, so it will be a tough one.”

Claremont is now 3-2 in league and 7-10 overall, with a tough game against La Serna at Rio Hondo College on Thursday and a rematch with the Bearcats on Tuesday.

Cross country

Claremont High School’s girls’ varsity cross country team finished in second place in the prestigious Clovis Invitational Girls championship race on Saturday in Fresno.

Claremont scored 132, behind Great Oak at 102 points, but ahead of 23 other scoring teams, including top nationally-ranked Buchanan High School, which took third with 142 points.

Junior Sydney Hwang led CHS with her ninth-place finish at 17:35 over the 5000-meter, 3.1-mile course. Behind Hwang were Azalea Segura-Mora, 21st at 18:08; Tess Rounds, 30th at 18:27; Kalinda Reynolds, 38th at 18:33; and Alyssa Cantrell, 50th at 18:51. A total of 179 runners finished the race.

The boys varsity cross country team took 14th place at Clovis with 350 points, to finish in the middle of 25 strong teams competing in the boys championship division.

A.J. Reyes took 45th place to pace the CHS varsity. Reyes clocked 15:50 over the 5000 meter (3.1 mile) course. A total of 182 runners competed. Behind Reyes for CHS were Vincent Huerta (54th, 16:00), Jeremiah Alarcon (66th, 16:07), Michael Carpenter (93rd, 16:23) and Daniel Scheider (130th, 16:36).

The CHS varsity team next competes in the Mt. SAC Invitational on Saturday, October 21.

Girls tennis

Claremont High School Girls varsity tennis captured another win last Thursday, defeating Glendora High School at home, 16-2. Seniors Grace Wride and Jillian Ontiveros defeated all three of Glendora’s doubles teams. Other players who didn’t lose a set included, Goldie La, Caren Uribe, Jahday Drewery, Emma Berens, Astrid Petropoulus, Sharon Handoko and Rayyan Misherghi.

The match was the second meeting between the two schools, both of which CHS won. The Pack moves to 6-0 in league play.

Girls golf

Claremont played in the Ayala Classic on Monday, taking third place out of nineteen teams. Jett Legacion shot a 78, four over par.

In Palomares League action on Tuesday, the girls lost to first place Diamond Bar, 189 to 221. Juliana Gomez shot par at 36, Maryn Santiago shot a 40, and Sally Wang shot a 45. The Pack is 6-3 in league.

—Steven Felschundneff

steven@claremont-courier.com