Student Athlete of the Week – Riley Reyes

"He has a great arm in this pool. He's really in the last three years developed the core strength and his power that he comes off of there. It's hard for the other team's goalies to stop once he gets it," said Gundlach. 

Riley Reyes didn't initially start in the pool at Shadow Hills, but once he got his feet wet, he was hooked. 
"I wasn't a big swimmer at first but as I went on, like the first year, I fell in love. It was fun," said Reyes. 

What has he meant to this team this year?

"He was one of our team captains and he really led the team this year. He was so good at getting the team together and really being a team player," said Gundlach. 

"The whole team has been a blast. It's super fun. I love these guys playing with them. I grew up with some of them," said Reyes. 

Reyes has formed a family type atmosphere for the nights, which helped them tremendously in the postseason. 

"We were in the consolation championship game we're down to, 0-2, and we really stepped up. I felt a lot of it came because of Riley's leadership, his ability to just take control and not bend or fold. He just kept fighting. And we ended up outscoring them, 11-7, and won the game."

An integral part of the team in and out of the pool. 

"His GPA is 4.7 so he's not taking the easy classes. He encourages all of them to not only give 100% in practice, but 100% academically," said Gundlach. "He was just helping a player today with their with their Spanish classes and one with math the other day. So he's willing to help the team." 

"I think it is really underrated. I look at the SAT check marks and water polo isn't on there. But bowling is," said Reyes. 

"He's really represented Shadow Hills not only as a student and as an athlete, but as a person," said Gundlach.