Sea comes to mountains

Clark Condict was your average beach bum.

He grew up in Irvine, Calif., just miles from the Pacific Ocean. He spent most of his afternoons surfing for fun or playing water polo for a chance at a college scholarship.

When Air Force water polo coach Jeff Ehrlich brought Condict to Colorado Springs four years ago on a recruiting visit, Condict noticed a sign above the Falcons’ pool: “The Air is Rare at 7,250 Feet Above Sea Level.”

What’s not rare are Californians like Condict who have come to the academy for water polo, enabling Air Force to experience surprising success in a sport that’s hardly played at altitude or more than 1,000 miles from a coastline.

Air Force will host the Western Water Polo Association Tournament from Friday through Sunday. The winner will join three other teams in the NCAA Tournament, which is Dec. 1 and 2 in Stanford, Calif.

There are 22 Division I men’s water polo teams in three conferences. Twelve are in California, and nine are in the Eastern time zone near the Atlantic Ocean, making Air Force the oddball.

The Falcons have played water polo since 1971, including the past 21 years in the WWPA. They’ve had 22 winning seasons and five top-10 finishes, and they won the WWPA in 1990 and 1994.

Nineteen of Air Force’s 26 players are from California, where the quirky game Condict calls “a combination of swimming, soccer and basketball” is most popular.

Most were raised near beaches, like Condict was. None had played water polo at altitude, a factor that has become an advantage for the Falcons.

“They see that sign,” Condict said of Air Force’s opponents. “They’re like, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to hack it up here.’ You’re going to see guys subbing out a lot more often because they’re going to be getting tired way faster. We’re going to have that endurance because we’ve been training up here.”

Ehrlich has done a majority of his recruiting at sea level in nine seasons at the academy. His primary recruiting area is California, and he also has ventured to Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Texas and Washington — pretty much anywhere there’s someone willing to play for a service academy in a landlocked state.

“We go after every kid we can. We’ll talk to the best in the country,” Ehrlich said. “Some kids will say, ‘I want to go to Stanford. I want to go to Brown. I want to stay in California.’ I stay positive. I don’t get upset. I don’t put a guilt trip on them.

“When you graduate from here in four years, from one of the best institutions in the country, you’re going to have a job for five years. Nowadays, that’s a big thing. Ten years ago, there were bonuses to kids coming out of colleges. That’s not the case now.”

The promise of a job almost wasn’t enough for Condict, who chose Air Force over Loyola Marymount, a traditional water polo school in Los Angeles.

“People don’t see playing water polo in Colorado as something ordinary,” said Condict, tied with Justin Berry for the team lead with 51 goals. Condict was named a WWPA first-teamer and Berry a second-teamer Wednesday. Bobby Geiger made the All-Freshmen team. “I wanted to do the traditional school. At the same time, I knew the experiences I would gain and the education I would get at the Air Force Academy would far outweigh anything I could ever get at Loyola Marymount,” he said.

Berry, a self-proclaimed “big-time surfer” from Windermere, Fla., entered the academy with Condict, sporting a tan and hair past his shoulders.

His tan is long gone, and so is most of his hair. The quizzical looks he gets when he tells people he’s an Air Force water polo player haven’t vanished.

“Some people don’t even know we have a team,” Berry said. “People figure, ‘Are you guys out in California?’ It’s like, ‘No, we’re in Colorado.’ It’s kind of funny.”

Little respect doesn’t matter to Air Force, 16th in the national rankings.

The Falcons (12-13) closed the regular season with wins in six of their last nine games. They were competitive last month in a 4-2 loss to No. 9 University of California-Davis, the top seed in the nine-team WWPA Tournament.

“We’re certainly recognized as a strong water polo team,” Ehrlich said. “We can say that we rule the Rockies in water polo. That’s for sure.”

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

FRIDAY

Game 1 10:30 a.m. No. 8 UC Santa Cruz vs. No. 9 Claremont

Game 2 2 p.m. No. 4 UC San Diego vs. No. 5 Air Force

Game 3 3:30 p.m. No. 3 Loyola Marymount vs. No. 6 Redlands

Game 4 5 p.m. No. 2 Santa Clara vs. No. 7 Pomona-Pitzer

Game 5 6:30 p.m. No. 1 UC Davis vs. Game 1 winner

SATURDAY

Game 6 10:30 a.m. Game 4 loser vs. Game 1 loser

Game 7 2 p.m. Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 winner

Game 8 3:30 p.m. Game 5 winner vs. Game 2 winner

Game 9 6 p.m. Game 2 loser vs. Game 5 loser

Game 10 7:30 p.m. Game 3 loser vs. Game 6 winner

SUNDAY

Game 11 10:30 a.m. Game 9 loser vs. Game 10 loser (Seventh-place game)

Game 12 Noon Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner (Fifth-place game)

Game 13 1:30 p.m. Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 loser (Third-place game)

Game 14 3 p.m. Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner (Championship game)

WESTERN WATER POLO ASSOCIATION TOURNAMENT

When: Friday through Sunday

Where: Cadet Natatorium, Air Force Academy

Spectator information: Admission is free. Parking is free on the east side of Cadet Field House.

At stake: Winner receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament