Boys water polo: Scouting Northwest

BarringtonTop returning players: John Fischer (Sr.), Mitch Gavars (Sr.), Colin O'Leary (Sr.), Scott Robinson (Sr.) Jack Krieps (Sr.)

Promising varsity newcomers: Steven Fischer (Soph.), Liam Rorison (Soph.), Jack Streeter (Fr.).

Team outlook: The standard has been recently at Barrington, which two seasons ago made a run to the Elite Eight and last year delivered another 25-win season which ended in an OT loss on the sectional final. The Broncos return five of last year's seven starters and hope to duplicate the 2015 team's state-level success with a senior-dominated squad featuring plenty of leadership. Coach Rob Emary is looking for "two or three players to come of the bench this season and make a significant contribution both, offensively and defensively, in addition to more consistent play from the starting seven."

Buffalo GroveTop players: Kevin Carr (Jr.), Dan Korol (Jr.), Nick Roberts (Sr.), Eid Shathatit (Sr.), Kacper Aniecko (Jr.), Tim Gerling (Jr., G)

Outlook: Coach Scott Kopecky is eager to see how a strong and experienced core can continue to grow. "We are excited about this year," he said. "We have most of our starters returning this year, and they have all put in a ton of work in the off-season. Our team last year was mostly sophomores and juniors, so this year we have two seniors on varsity and the rest are juniors. With our young core and senior leadership, I am excited about this year and next."

ConantTop returners: Alec Burke, Harris Dibek

Newcomers: Alex Hirjoi

Outlook: "As always at Conant, our standard is to be competing for a sectional championship at the end of the season," says coach Tim Daniel. "However, there will be a lot of opportunities for players to earn playing time at the beginning of the season. How accountable everyone is to the team and how everyone competes for their spot will determine if we live up to the standard at Conant."

FremdTop returning players: Kenny Barry (S.), Danny Konishi (Jr.), Arnas Maciunas (Sr.), Tarun Pothanker (Sr.), Mitch Thompson (Sr.), Derek Warnstedt (Jr.)

Promising varsity newcomers: Danny Danecker (Soph.), Karsten Titze (Soph.), Sebastian Lekas (Soph.), Christian Zukowski (Soph.), Nick Seroni (Sr.)

Team outlook: The Vikings are coming off a great season last year, which included the second MSL title in program history along with a second trip to the state's Elite Eight. "We are always trying to put a team together that will compete for the conference title," says coach Brian Newby. "Our hope is that by the end of the season we have grown as a team and can put together a good run at the sectional title. This is a fun group of hard-working young men. I'm excited to see how they will interact and gel together as the season goes on." Newby expects to stress defense first and foremost in an effort to generate offensive opportunities.

HerseyOutlook: It's been a mixed bag in the early going for the Huskies, who fell 7-5 to St. Viator in their opener but then won in a shutout against Hoffman Estates. Captain RJ Quinn paced Hersey in the 12-0 decision against the Hawks, and goalie Alex Thielen made 7 stops. Brian Prior and James Lawrence area among the other players with experience for coach Dick Mortensen's team.

Hoffman EstatesTop returning players: Andy Walsh (Sr.), Eric Callisen (Jr.), Greg Baranov (Jr.)

Team outlook: Coach Kevin Kledzik is eager for better results after last season, when wins were few and far between. He reports that his Hawks will be hungry and eager to improve. "A solid group of juniors are returning that have worked hard through their first swim season to improve our speed and toughness for this year," Kledzik said. "A core group has committed to our program, and this is promising for a brighter future."

PalatineTop returners: TJ May (Sr.), Dylan White (Sr.), Sean O'Brien (Jr.), Jerome Gabriel (Jr.)

Outlook: After last spring featured lots of travel and no true home games as the Palatine was under renovation, the Pirates are eager for an actual home-pool advantage. "We're looking to get back on track after our construction year," said coach Joe Grzybek. "We're the first sport to have a full season in the new pool and we hope to christen the pool with good water polo. The majority of our team is new to water polo so we're hoping to learn a lot, but still have our top-end varsity players lead the way to good competition."

ProspectTop returners: Matt Inserra (Sr.), Jacob Kosinski (Jr.)

Promising newcomers: Nick Partipilo (Sr.), Alexei Bagrov (Jr.), Carter Bellows (Jr.), Alex Karlovitz (Jr.), Dan Macina (Jr.), Matt Smejkal (Jr.), Abdelrahmen (Jr.), Sam Truppa (Jr.), Cole Mauer (Jr.), Steve Van-Dyke Rohan (Sr.).

Outlook: In a season after losing eight seniors, it's a bit of a rebuilding year for the Knights. The focus will be on turning a successful swim team into a group able to stand up to the unique physical challenges of water polo. "With a very exciting squad of sophmores and juniors," says coach Steve Grzybek, "we're looking forward to a phenomenal growing team spearheaded by senior Matt Inserra."

SchaumburgTop returning players: Sam Thomas (Sr.), Darius Lewis (Sr.), Andrew Jun (Sr.)

Promising varsity newcomers: Michael Burke (Jr.), Matt Soltau (Jr.), Joe Kula (Sr.)

Outlook: Coach Adam Koschnitzke hopes to see improvement over last year's record, and with five varsity starters back in place from that team, it certainly seems like a realistic goal. Although Koschnitzke cautions that the Saxons are still a young team, he also says, "there is much anticipation for their growth over the season."

St. ViatorOutlook: Seniors Stephen Battin and Tim Bansfield figure to lead the way for the Lions, who went 1-1 in their first two matchups. Battin had a team-best 3 goals in a 7-5 win against Hersey and followed with 2 in a 9-8 loss to De La Salle, while Bansfield had a total of 20 saves in the two games. Others joining the effort include senior Matt Stack, juniors Jack Curran and Michael Wendling and sophomores Tyler Coupe and Michael Ruben.

WheelingTop returning players: Nick Buzinskis (Sr.), Nick Konstantos (Jr.), Anthony Delgado (Jr).

Varsity newcomers: Ferdinando Defrenza (Sr.), Dylan Mader (Sr.), Sergio Maldonado (Jr.), Vasyl Pavlyuk (Soph.), Tristan Pink (Sr.)

Team outlook: "Having graduated three key players from last year's MSL East champion team, the success of this year's team will depend on how fast the new guys can progress," said Wheeling coach Bob Savitt, who excelled in recent seasons as coach of Wheeling's girls program. "Our defense will be our strength, with Nick Buzinskis returning in goal. We hope to play lock-down defense, and that will lead to a strong counter-attack. We are a small team, but hopefully by the end of the year we'll be right there competing for another MSL East crown."