Though most Cincinnati high school fall sports are taking place outside, things will also heat up indoors, as Ohio’s 2026 high school water polo season is set to begin Aug. 13.
Ahead of that, here are some top storylines to follow on both the boys and girls sides of the sport.
Which school will end the Cincinnati state title drought?
Like many other Olympic sports in the state, Ohio high school water polo is dominated by the Columbus region.
A Cincinnati team has not won an Ohio Water Polo Association state championship since St. Xavier in 2016 for boys and the now-defunct Cincinnati Mavericks in 2018 for girls. The last time a Cincinnati team made the state final was the Sycamore girls in 2023.
However, that’s not to say Cincinnati teams haven’t been close. St. Xavier was the biggest Cincinnati story in boys water polo in 2025, upsetting No. 4-seeded Mason in the quarterfinals. They finished in third place overall, falling 12-6 to Upper Arlington in the semifinals but beating Thomas Worthington 14-13 in the third-place match. Overall, the Bombers posted a 21-18 record.
St. Xavier comes into 2026 with nine seniors, and are looking to match or better its result from 2025.
“This year, we are focused on doing the work to earn an extra weekend of water polo,” St. Xavier head coach Benjamin Dawson told The Enquirer. “We all love the sport, and our awesome seniors, so getting to that last weekend would be special.”
For the girls, Mason made Ohio’s Final Four, falling to eventual champions Upper Arlington 11-9 in overtime of the semifinals and losing to Napoleon 6-2 in the third-place match. Nevertheless, the Comets still had a successful season, finishing with a 16-12-1 record and going undefeated (7-0) in dual match play.
Mason and St. Xavier are historically successful teams that will be expected to contend in 2026. But Sycamore will be competitive on both the boys and girls sides as well, with multiple state final appearances from both teams in the last 10 years.
Headed into the state tournament, the Sycamore boys were the third-ranked Cincinnati team behind Mason and St. Xavier, while the Sycamore girls were the second-ranked Cincinnati team behind Mason. The Lady Aves fell to No. 3 Napoleon in the opening round of the state tournament.
Who are the up and comers?
While there is an upper echelon of teams that made it to the later stages of 2025’s state tournament, there are also several emerging programs looking to add themselves to the mix.
One of those programs is Walnut Hills. The boys posted a 21-11 record, while the girls made the state quarterfinals under first-year head coach Stefano Di Loreto. Di Loreto won The Enquirer’s 2025 girls water polo Coach of the Year award after his team’s performance.
The next step for Di Loreto? Contending with the top players.
“This season is really about taking the next step as a program. In the past, Walnut Hills has not necessarily been viewed as one of the stronger programs in the area (especially because we are such a young program), but we have seen a significant shift in our athletes’ commitment to the sport,” Di Loreto said. “Our goal is to establish ourselves as a program that can compete with and ultimately dominate the Cincinnati area, while also closing the gap with the historically strong programs in Columbus.”
Another program in the girls mix is Milford, which was the No. 7 seed in the state tournament and also led by Madeline House, the first player in program history to earn Enquirer Player of the Year honors. Princeton was the last seed in both the boys and girls tournaments, but still produced two Enquirer all-city players across both programs in 2025.
Moeller has a new boys water polo program for the 2026 season. Senior captains Nick Vaske and Beckett Kahle, who competed for Milford in 2025, will be among the team leaders, according to head coach Amanda Buckel.
“We are very excited to become a part of Ohio Water Polo and I think we have a chance at getting a few wins under our belt,” Buckel said. “With being a brand new program to the area, our goal is building a strong foundation, having supportive teammates and to get more competitive with each game we play.”
Players to watch
For the girls, junior Madeline House is the player to watch. The 2025 Enquirer Player of the Year recorded 149 goals, 79 steals and 17 assists in her sophomore season and won the Ohio Player of the Year award. And to boot, she was invited to the USA Water Polo Olympic Development program alongside her teammate Cameron Kilimnik.
The top returner from Cincinnati’s top girls team is Mason junior Alyssa Weitz, a 2025 all-city honorable mention who is her school’s only all-city returnee. According to a July 25 post on her X account, she is recovering from ACL surgery earlier in the year and should be 100 percent by the end of the month.
Di Loreto lists seniors Maisie Moran and Coral Morehouse amongst his Walnut Hills girls players to watch. Moran, a 2025 first-team all-city selection, recorded 39 goals, six assists and 19 steals during her junior year. Morehouse tied Moran as the 2025 goals leader and also had 19 assists and a team-leading 45 steals, resulting in a second-team all-city honor.
Reigning boys player of the year, Mason’s Marco Di Loreto Tarot, has graduated. But 2025 first-team all-city selection Dylan Cahill will be back as the Comets’ starting goalie and arguably their top returning player. Also, be on the lookout for Sycamore seniors Ciaran Skinner and Aaron Zelvy, both returning first-team all-city honorees.
Gus Leder and Owen Carr are two players to watch from St. Xavier, the top-performing boys team of 2025. According to Lawson, both players started in 2025 and led their respective club teams in all major categories during the summer of 2026.
For the Walnut Hills boys, senior Josh Scharff is the team’s lead returning scorer, recording 55 goals and 31 assists in 2025. But junior Wren Prows will also be one to watch, especially on the defensive end, as he recorded 54 steals to go alongside his 35 goals and 35 assists during his sophomore campaign.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati water polo teams, players expected to make a splash in 2026
Reporting by Yanyan Li, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Yanyan Li, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
