The Daily News named center Ben Hallock ’16 Player of the Year for the second year in a row after leading the Harvard-Westlake water polo team to a 24-3 record.
“Winning player of the year for the second straight year was simply amazing and was a feat I couldn’t have accomplished without my teammates over the past few years,” Hallock said. “I’m so proud of the teams that I have been on and have been blessed to have an amazing coach like Brian Flacks ’06 to help me develop into the player I am today.”
In the beginning of the season, Hallock’s leadership was key in the squad’s 13 game win-streak but they fell in their 14th game to Mater Dei. They then went on to win the rest of their games except for two more matchups against Mater Dei, once in league and another in the CIF Finals.
The loss to Mater Dei in the finals was devastating for Hallock and the rest of the squad, but after the final buzzer sounded he did his best remind the team of all their accomplishments. He didn’t want them to focus on the negatives of the season and wanted them to realize that what they did was quite amazing.
In this past season, the whole varsity team together accumulated a total of 459 goals. Hallock recorded 97 of those goals, but assisted another 86 being responsible for a total of 183 goals.
Outside of school Hallock also participated in many international games. In 2012 he helped his team place second in the Junior Pan American Games. In 2015 he competed in the Volvo Cup and played in the Senior Team Games against Australia and Italy. Lastly, Hallock scored four goals for Team USA and helped the team place third at 2015 FINA. He is now eager to be selected for the 2016 Olympic Games.
“As far as my plans for the future, I am training with the men’s senior national team and am in the process to be selected for the 2016 Olympic game in Rio. I’ll also be playing water polo at Stanford in the fall,” Hallock said.
