Wheeler’s water polo club team won the Georgia High School Water Polo Association’s girls championship after beating Collins Hill 5-3 last month. It was the first state championship for the Wheeler girls team. Coach Karina Cordisco helped launch water polo teams at Wheeler High School in 2006 — the first Georgia high school program. Initially, the program began primarily with boy players, but it has grown to feature three boys teams and a girls team, which started in 2016. Pictured (l-r) are: Mattie Brennan, Sydney Buffington, Alice Landrum, Ritika Sadalge, Caroline Lanier, Coach Karina Cordisco (holding trophy); Katie Rose Slade, Cameron Ragan, Coach Jeff Drews, Allison Vermaak, Erica Redmond, Emily Belinski, and Annika James.

This article originally appeared in the November issue of EAST COBBER, on page 52. Click here to view the digital edition.