Athlete of the Week: Sacred Heart Prep’s Gavin West

Now, in first full season with the Gators, West has emerged as the most prolific scorer on a team aiming for greatness. Sure, SHP is shooting for its 10th consecutive Central Coast Section championship this season. But after returning from the prestigious South Coast Invitational Tournament in Newport Beach with an impressive third-place finish, the Gators have their sights set higher — much, much higher.

“Our goal every year is to win CCS,” West said. “And I think we’ve branched out that goal to finish the year as the No. 1 team in the nation. We know it’s an ambitious goal … but it’s just about the hard work we put in day-in and day-out in practice.”

West has earned Daily Journal Athlete of the Week honors for his scoring prowess against some of the nation’s top teams at the South Coast Invitational. He totaled 17 goals and six assists in four games, including a double hat trick in Saturday’s third-place match, a 17-11 victory over Huntington Beach, a team that entered the 32-team tournament as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, according to MaxPreps.com.

“He really rose to the occasion throughout the whole tournament,” Sacred Heart Prep head coach Brian Kreutzkamp said.

After SHP fell in the tournament semifinals 9-7 to Mater Dei, West led the rejuvenation effort against Huntington Beach. Despite a mere two-hour rest between games, West totaled six goals against Huntington Beach as SHP ran up an early lead. The senior played every minute in each of the last two matches.

With the counterattack a cornerstone of the Gators’ strategy, West’s speed plays large. The senior has done his share of competitive swimming since his days at the Brunswick school, he has doubled as freestyle sprinter and a water polo driver. And Price makes great use of his junior national team counterpart.

“He’s one of the fastest swimmers in all of high school,” Kreutzkamp said. “So, he just has blazing speed … and can go the whole game at full speed. So, he just swims fast and grinds them down.”

Moving from Connecticut to California is just one chapter of West’s traveling journal. During the summer, he made a trip with the junior national team to play a tournament in Hungary. And his plan to continue his playing career after high school is to relocate to Spain to play on the pro circuit there, with hopes of sharpening his water polo chops to return home a bit older and wiser when he eventually plays collegiately.

Still, landing at the Sacred Heart Schools Dunlevie Aquatic Center provided West with something of a lifeline. Classes during the fall of 2020 were strictly remote learning. And while all high school fall sports were postponed until the spring of 2021, the Gators were still allowed to practice.

Being a stranger in a strange land was difficult enough for West. Had it not been for water polo practice, he would have had to wait months to form friendships. Instead, he found himself gearing up to lead the most promising boys’ water polo team in Northern California and is now in awe of SHP going up against the Huntington Beaches and Mater Deis of the world.

“It’s everything,” West said. “Coming in as a transfer student, the opportunity to play these teams, it just means so much to us. And there’s a core group of seniors … they have really helped me integrate into the team.”

Saturday’s showdowns with Mater Dei and Huntington Beach marked the second time SHP has played both this year. During the summer, the Gators played a preseason warmup and actually defeated Mater Dei but lost to Huntington Beach, the opposite outcomes as at the South Coast Invitational.

Despite the recent loss to Mater Dei, the Gators will get two more opportunities to play them. Both teams are slated to play in the Elite 8 Invitational at Harvard Westlake School starting Oct. 7. Mater Dei is also scheduled to play in the North vs. South Invitational Tournament starting Oct. 15 at SHP.

“We’re excited to get another crack at those guys,” West said.