Written by Jack Bush-Joseph
The swim and dive season has finished but the start of Block 7 marked the beginning of a whole different kind of competition in Schlessman Natatorium. The Colorado College intramural inner tube water polo season is taking over, and this year’s season has a lot of hype surrounding it.
“Water polo is easily one of the most exciting IM sports we have here at CC,” said Student Director Justin Nguyen, who is going into his second year supervising the league. “From kids not knowing how to swim and trying to survive in the tubes, to belligerent kids in the pool on classy Wednesday, there’s always excitement.”
For those who aren’t familiar, inner tube water polo is played in the pool by two teams each with five players and one goalie, using inflatable tubes to stay afloat. The concept is simple, stay in the tube, put the ball in the net, and try to prevent the other team from scoring.
While the season has only just started, the reason there has been so much anticipation leading up to it is because one team is looking to pull off a feat never accomplished before in CC intramural sports history: the back-to-back-to-back league championships. While the odds may be stacked against them, the Benjy Lerman’s Memorial Squad, composed of CC senior basketball players Tyler Jonas, James Lonergan, Justin Berardino, Luke Winfield, Juwan Rohan, as well as Heather Seeley, Samantha Curran, Pele Buika, Kate Hamamoto, Courtney Birkett, and Andrew Maddock, is looking to establish their dominance and continue their reign as they pursue a third league championship.
In the team’s first match of the season they came out ready and firing, going up 8-0 before halftime, forcing the other team to give up and actually forfeit the rest of the game. On Wednesday, the team added another victory against Noist Muts.
“I attribute our success to our length and speed in the pool. No one’s been able to stop the one-two punch of our quickness to the ball and execution on offense,” said Winfield. “I think our best advantage is that we really play well as a team,” said senior and veteran of the game Lonergan. “As long as we have all our players embracing their role, we will continue to have fun and succeed.”
The Benjy Lerman’s Memorial Squad definitely has a target on their back from the rest of the league but they could not be more excited for the challenge. There are plenty of other team’s filled with CC athletes from the hockey team, swim team, as well as the younger basketball players, eager to beat out their older teammates, that are hungry for the top seat.
While the Benjy Lerman’s Memorial Squad has already locked up their place in CC intramural history with their two consecutive championships, to truly reach the next level of legendariness the team needs to fulfill what some might call destiny and bring home the 2016 title, solidifying the three-peat.