Many of Orange County’s top boys and girls water polo players will be in action with their respective clubs at the upcoming Junior Olympics in Orange County.

Session I features the boys and begins Saturday throughout the county. The finals in the top divisions are Tuesday, July 22 at Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine.

Two-time defending champion Newport Beach, powered by players from Newport Harbor, is seeded first in the 18-and-under boys division.

Newport Beach won’t have Newport Harbor senior Connor Ohl, a recent Stanford commit who is playing with the U.S. national team at the World Championships in Singapore.

Mission, led by JSerra players, is seeded second.

Session II spotlights the girls and runs July 24-27. The top-division finals are also at Woollett Aquatics Center.

SOCAL is seeded first with Regency (Mater Dei) and Newport Beach slotted third and fourth, respectively.

SOCAL’s roster incudes several girls who played for Foothill last season.

Junior Olympics is considered the largest water polo tournament in the world. The event hosts about 15,000 players who are ages 18-and-under. There are 942 teams entered.

One would be hard-pressed to find a coach who served his community better than Manny Peñaflor served his.

Peñaflor, a standout football player and later a longtime coach at Santa Ana High, died July 7 of heart failure. He was 84.

Peñaflor was Santa Ana High’s athlete of the year as a senior in the 1958-59 school year. He was a two-way lineman for the football team and threw the discus and shot put for the school’s track and field team. Peñaflor went on to play football at Cal.

He returned to Santa Ana High to be an assistant football coach to Tom Baldwin. Peñaflor coached lower-level football teams, track and field, wrestling and soccer for 37 years for the Saints. He taught math and ESL (English as a Second Language) courses at Santa Ana and was a driver education teacher at the school.

He also launched AYSO soccer leagues in Orange County.

His son Joe Peñaflor, who replaced his father as Santa Ana’s boys soccer coach in 2001 and led the Saints to more than 300 wins, said he was always impressed and amazed by his father’s dedication and organizational skills.

“I sit back and think about how he would teach and coach at the high school,” Joe Peñaflor said, “and then he’d be out there until 7 for 8 at night coaching my brothers’ soccer teams and also taking us to club wrestling, then on Saturdays and Sundays he would be at four or five soccer games a day.”

Manny Peñaflor is survived by his children Louie, Micky, Cathy and Joe and grandchildren Julia, Jake, Hannah, Lance, Louis, Dylan and Sophia.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Tustin Ranch Golf Club on Aug. 3 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In lieu of flowers donations are requested to be made to a GoFundMe account that will benefit Santa Ana High athletics.

The competition is getting stiffer for Teagan O’Dell, and that’s fine by her.

The former Santa Margarita swimmer will race in her first senior-level, international meet for Team USA starting Friday, July 18 at the World University Games in Berlin, Germany.

O’Dell, The Register’s reigning female athlete of the year, will compete in the 400-meter individual medley, one of her rising events at the Olympic distance or long course meters.

O’Dell, who signed with Cal, will compete in the 200 IM starting on Monday.

“This being my first time as one of the senior-level swimmers, I’m looking forward to it,” O’Dell said of the World University Games before departing for Germany. “I’m also looking forward to competing along side other college athletes.”

O’Dell, 18, has represented the U.S. at the Junior World Championships in 2023 and twice at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships (2022, 2024).

She fulfilled one of her goals by qualifying for the World University Games at the U.S. nationals in Indianapolis in early June.

O’Dell wanted to make either the U.S. team for Germany or the World Championships in Singapore.

The four-time O.C. female swimmer of the year posted lifetime-best times in the 400 IM (4 minutes, 41.32 seconds) and 200 IM (2:11.25) at nationals.

“Because I had competed at the junior level for three years, I told myself it was time to step it up,” she said. “I’m honored to represent the USA another time.”

Also, Mater Dei announced that it has promoted Kelly Dullard and Jessica Perry to co-athletic directors. Both had been associate athletic directors in recent years.

Miller most recently was Orange Unified School District Administrative Director of Educational Services and District Athletic Director. Prior to that, he was the principal at Villa Park High.

The executive director of athletics position was created at Mater Dei a few years ago when longtime Servite associate athletic director Joel Hartmann was hired for the job shortly after former Servite principal Mike Brennan became Mater Dei president. When Hartmann left, Kevin Kiernan assumed executive director duties.

Kiernan, the very successful girls basketball coach at Mater Dei, has returned to Troy to be its girls basketball coach.

Miller’s starting date at Mater Dei is Aug. 1.

In a media release from Mater Dei, Miller said: “I am honored to join the Mater Dei community and contribute to its remarkable tradition of excellence. This is a special place where faith, character, and achievement come together. I look forward to supporting our student-athletes and coaches as we move forward together in these exciting and changing times.”

This week’s All-Star Game had two Orange County players among the National League starters: first baseman Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers played at El Modena High; pitcher Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates is from El Toro High.

Aliso Niguel’s Cooper Flemming, the Orange County player of the year for the 2025 high school baseball season, leads the group of county products selected in the Major League Baseball Draft this month.

A look at the O.C. players taken in this season’s MLB Draft:

Second round

Cooper Flemming, Aliso Niguel, SS

He was selected by Tampa Bay as the 53rd overall pick. Flemming was the Orange County player of the year this past season. MLB.com lists Flemming as being from Pomona’s Ganesha High, but Flemming played his senior season at Aliso Niguel after playing club ball exclusively earlier in his previous high school days.

Third round

Ethan Hedges, Mater Dei, 3B

Hedges was taken by the Colorado Rockies out of USC as the 77th overall selection. Hedges was All-Trinity League first team at Mater Dei before going to USC.

Ben Jacobs, Huntington Beach, P

Jacobs, an All-Orange County first-team pitcher in 2022 and that season’s Surf League MVP, went on to Arizona State and was drafted by the Detroit Tigers as the 98th overall pick.

Fourth round

Riley Kelly, Tustin, P

Kelly, an All-CIF pitcher at Tustin and the Tillers football starting quarterback, was taken by the Colorado Rockies as the 107th overall selection.

Sixth round

Josiah Hartshorn, Orange Lutheran, OF

The Chicago Cubs made Hartshorn. All-Orange County first team this past season, the 181st overall pick.

13th round

Aiden Taurek, Foothill, OF

Taurek, All-OC first team in 2022, was drafted out of St. Mary’s by the Seattle Mariners as the 392nd overall selection.

Gavin Lauridsen, Foothill, P

The Milwaukee Brewers made Lauridsen the 395th overall selection after his All-OC first-team season of 2025 in which he also was a standout shortstop.

17th round

Xavier Cadenas III, Servite, P

The Friars’ ace in the 2022 season, his senior year, Cadenas was taken by the Miami Marlins as the 498th overall draft choice.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE

11th round

Rod Barajas Jr., Saddleback College, C

The San Francisco Giants made UC Irvine commit Barajas, son of former MLB catcher Rod Barajas, the 326th overall selection.

Santa Margarita boys and girls water polo coach Brian Weathersby, who guided the girls to three CIF-SS titles, has resigned, Weathersby and the Trinity League school confirmed.

With the boys season approaching in the fall, Weathersby departs after leading the boys to the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs twice during his two-year stint in 2023-24.

In 12 seasons with the girls, he guided the Eagles to three section championships (2014 in Division 2, ’19 in Division 2 and ’23 in Division 1) and four Trinity League titles.

“After careful consideration, I made the decision to step down from my coaching role due to internal circumstances that no longer aligned with my values or coaching philosophy,” Weathersby said in a statement. “My focus has always been on fostering a positive, disciplined and respectful team environment.”

“While it was a difficult decision, I’m proud of what we accomplished and remain committed to supporting young athletes and building strong team cultures wherever I go.”

On Thursday, Santa Margarita athletic director Donald Evans declined comment on Weathersby’s statement about “internal circumstances.” The school expressed gratitude for Weathersby’s service in announcing his resignation as the boys coach on Friday, July 11.

In April, Santa Margarita announced Orange Coast College assistant Aaron Arias as its new girls coach.

Weathersby was selected The Register’s O.C. girls coach of the year in 2014 after his first season at the helm.

Last season, the Eagles’ girls went 2-21 and missed the playoffs for only the second time under Weathersby.

He finished with an overall record of 184-125 with the girls program.

Coach Christian Macias, an assistant under Weathersby, is helping Santa Margarita boys in its transition period, Evans stated.

Weathersby said he is interested in continuing to coach in the high school ranks. He added that he is no longer coaching club with SOCAL.

Fairmont Prep’s girls basketball team has added a high-scoring transfer and touted incoming freshman.

Westlake senior Mathis Dritz and freshman Aaliyah Mack have both enrolled at the school, Huskies coach Josh Lozano confirmed Wednesday.

Dritz, a 6-foot-2 wing, averaged 22.2 points and 13.4 rebounds last season to help Westlake (23-6) claim the Marmonte League title.

Westlake lost to Esperanza 56-53 in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs.

Lozano said one of Dritz’s strengths is her versatility. “She’s like a Swiss Army knife,” he said Dritz, a former Ventura County Star player of the year.

Dritz recently made an official recruiting trip to Oregon.

Mack, a 6-foot-4 center, arrives from Arizona.

Lozano describes her as a “back to the basket” post.

Mack was recently offered by Arizona and Loyola Marymount.

Dritz and Mack join a Fairmont Prep team that reached the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs last season and returns All-County seniors Adyra Rajan and Sarah Aldeguer among others. The Huskies finished 23-11 last season.

In other transfer news, Orange Lutheran senior forward Emalynn Vong (5-11) has enrolled at Rosary, Royals coach Leslie Aragon confirmed. Vong played for Aragon as a freshman at Orangewood Academy before playing at Orange Lutheran the past two seasons.

Send girls basketball news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram

Hoggatt, 54, coached baseball at La Puente Bishop Amat since the 2015 season and has been a Bishop Amat athletic director the past three years. He was the Canyon baseball coach for 12 seasons before going to Bishop Amat.

He will be in charge of the Southern Section’s management of the fall sport of football, the winter sport of boys and girls wrestling, and of baseball. Hoggatt also will be involved in eligibility and transfer issues and will sit on various committees including the officials fees committee and the public/private committee.

Hoggatt replaces Richard Shearer who has retired after six years as a CIF-SS assistant commissioner.

Hoggatt has served on the CIF-SS baseball advisory committee and has worked as team liaison for CIF-SS baseball and football championship events. He said those experiences, and working with various CIF-SS officers — like former commissioner Rob Wigod and Glenn Martinez, who was an assistant commissioner — advanced his interest in the assistant commissioner position.

“Being around Rob and Glenn and Rick as well, seeing how they did things, their professionalism, that made an impact on me,” Hoggatt said. “I thought I would like to sit in that chair and do things they did.”

Noonan, who graduated from Dana Hills this spring, lost by 0.01 seconds Saturday to Iowa’s Quentin Nauman, who was a junior this past school year. Noonan broke the county record of 4:01.04 set by Brea Olinda’s Austin Tamagno in 2016.

He was 72. Daniel Dodd said his brother died of mesothelioma.

Dodd was Huntington Beach’s baseball coach from 1982-2000 and was the school’s football coach for one season, 1996, on an interim basis. He was Marina’s football coach from 2001-06.

He was an assistant football coach at Orange Coast College in the 2000 season, and also an assistant football coach at Huntington Beach while he was the school’s baseball coach.

Dodd played baseball at Golden West College and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 16th round in 1973.

He is survived by three children and five grandchildren.

Daniel Dodd said a celebration of life would likely occur later this summer.