Beyer’s Leventini, The Bee’s water polo player of year, attributes success to team

Beyer senior Lauryn Leventini was at the awards banquet for the Patriots girls water polo team when she got called up on the stage, expecting just to get a plaque.

Instead, Leventini was announced as the Western Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player.

Consider herself perplexed.

“The coaches first told me I didn’t make first-team but then after a pause, they said I was the league MVP,” Leventini said. “We were in a new league (WAC) and those things (awards) are usually political. To be awarded MVP in our first year and for it to be unanimous, I am super honored and I was shocked.”

When Leventini was told she was named the Bee’s Girls Water Polo Player of the Year, she was very gracious but said she couldn’t have done it without her teammates.

“I didn’t lead the team, it was team thing,” she said. “We had a really good group of girls on the team.”

Leventini led the Patriots, who advanced to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Div. III semifinals, with 62 goals and 35 assists.

“She was the hole-set of an offense that scored a lot in transition,” Beyer coach Eric Corgiat said. “She was crucial for when we needed to move away from the fast break and into the set offense.”

The success in the pool almost never occurred.

“I played basketball for seven years and as freshman, I was moved up to JV,” she said. “I just decided I didn’t like basketball and I knew I needed to play a sport.”

Leventini’s dad (Paul) and Corgiat both teach social studies at Beyer and one day Corgiat came to Leventini.

“He put a schedule down and said practice is Monday,” she said. “I told him I didn’t know how to swim and he said ‘We will start you in the shallow end.’”

It was a new found love for Leventini.

“I love how the players move in the water,” she said. “I love how quick it (speed of water polo) is and I love how aggressive the sport is.”

When she is not competing in the pool, Leventini spends a lot of time on her grandparents farm in Waterford and enters show sheep competitions in her spare time.

“Showing sheep is definitely a sport,” she said. “You have to be complete there and get in the mood and do what you have been taught.”

Leventini called her grandparents farm a “safe haven” and after she doesn’t do well in a game, going to the farm takes her mind off of water polo.

After graduation, Leventini will attend Modesto Junior College, where she will play water polo for two years and pursue a nursing degree.

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Leventini Bio

Name: Lauryn Leventini

School: Beyer

Sport: Water Polo

Grade: Senior

Favorite Food: Cheese enchiladas with red sauce

Hobbies: When not working at Strings Italian Cafe, she is on the farm with her grandpa, Mike.

Favorite High School Experience: “I feel like I have been in high school for 17 years. My favorite moment is probably the week when I got league MVP. There was a lot of attention about it. Also, freshman year when I got put into leadership (ASB). I was crying and I had no idea what I got myself into.”

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The Bee’s All-District Schedule

Dec. 21: Girls Cross Country (Madison Kackley)

Dec. 22: Boys Cross Country: (Alan Guerrero)

Dec. 23: Football (Dawaiian McNeely and Michael Kamps)

Dec. 24: Girls Golf (Madison Blanc)

Dec. 25: Girls Tennis (Colleen Ballatore)

Dec. 26: Volleyball (Tori Galloway)

Dec. 27: Girls Water Polo (Lauryn Leventini)

Dec. 28: Boys Water Polo