Watching 6-foot-6, 220-pound Connor Ohl of Newport Harbor High play water polo is similar to a Great White Shark sighting. You’re stunned and in awe.
He’s water polo’s version of a speeding dolphin in the pool, able to accelerate so fast with his long arms and powerful legs that few can stay with him. He won the Southern Section Division 1 50-yard freestyle title last spring and broke 20 seconds in a league meet (19.79), so beware to those who think he’s not as fast as advertised.
Then comes his size and strength. He could be a football player because physicality comes naturally. Being the youngest of three water polo playing brothers, it was sink or swim in the Ohl household growing up in Greenwich, Conn. One brother plays for Stanford, where Connor will soon join him. Another plays at Princeton.
Connor moved to Orange County last year for his junior season so he could be part of what he calls “the water polo hub of America.”
This past summer, he was the youngest player on the USA junior national team that earned a silver medal at the under-20 world championships in Croatia.
“It was such a crazy experience,” he said.
First there was playing the host team in front of screaming fans in an indoor pool. “Oh my God, It was so loud,” he said. “They had drummers. You couldn’t hear yourself think.”
Then there was playing Serbia, known for its physicality. He was a boy going against men. “It’s insane,” he said. “Some are built like refrigerators.”
What Ohl learned from his international experience will help him immensely during a high school season in which Newport Harbor is the defending Southern Section champion and heavily favored to win again. The Sailors are off to a 6-0 start.
Ben Liechty, Peter Castillo, Connor Ohl and Gavin Appeldorn, from left, represented Newport Harbor at the Under-20 World Championships in Croatia.
(Courtesy of Newport Harbor water polo)
“Going from high school water polo to the junior level is like night and day,” he said. “These juniors have been playing basically their whole life — Spain, Hungary, Croatia. They worship water polo. It’s made me a lot more physical. Coming back to high school, it’s made me more confident to defend and control people with my strength and size.”
With the arrival of the Anderson brothers, Tyler and Sean, from JSerra, Newport Harbor starts out as perhaps the best team in the country.
“We could be a football team with as big as we are in water polo,” Ohl said.
Corona del Mar, JSerra, Oaks Christian and Harvard-Westlake hope to offer resistance.
Ohl is the latest Southern California product who can’t wait to represent the USA in the Olympic Games, which happen to be coming to Los Angeles in 2028. The Dodd brothers, Ryder and Chase, from JSerra and Huntington Beach, played in the 2024 Olympic Games.
It will be one of the toughest teams to make because of the experience and depth with so many players back from 2024.
“My chances are as good as anyone else,” Ohl said. “That’s my dream. I just want to represent my country at the Olympics.”
Meanwhile, if you want to see someone who can swim as fast as a fish, check out a Newport Harbor water polo match. That’s Connor Ohl, the speeding bullet.
