Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week: Garrett Bowlus - Big fish in small

pool

Tony Altobelli

When your mother is 6-foot-1 and your dad is 6-foot-7, size was one

thing the Bowlus family didn’t have to worry about for their son,

Garrett.

The 6-foot-6, 200-pound, Corona del Mar High senior two-meter man, has

thrown his size around in the pool, helping the Sea Kings compete for the

CIF Southern Section Division II title.

“I think the biggest thing for me is that I’m growing into my body, so

I’m getting more comfortable with it,” Bowlus said. “I’m still not at the

point where I can juggle 15 things or anything, but I’m getting better

dealing with my size.”

The only people who are having a problem with it are Sea Kings’

opponents trying to prevent Bowlus from scoring on them.

Last week, Bowlus helped the Sea Kings rumble through the

quarterfinals and semifinals with relative ease en route to eventually

repeating at CIF Division II champions this past Wednesday.

Against Edison in the quarters, Bowlus overpowered the Chargers to the

tune of eight goals on Nov. 15 as the Sea Kings rolled, 13-9.

It was season high for Bowlus in the goal-scoring category and the

number was a stunner for him. “I had no idea I scored that many,” the

Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week said. “At first, I thought I had around

four or so, but afterward, looking back, I realized I did score that

many.”

Laguna Beach threw everything at Bowlus in the semis, but he still

managed to toss in three goals in the Sea Kings’ 11-4 win.

“The great thing about our team is that if I have the ball and I don’t

have a clean shot, there are lots of guys who can score,” Bowlus said. “I

really don’t focus on the offense. I don’t have to force up bad shots. If

I don’t score, somebody else will.”

Despite the loss of 13 seniors from last year’s talented squad, Bowlus

isn’t totally mystified to back battling for a CIF crown.

“I’m not surprised at all,” he said. “This year’s team is much more

balanced as far as our offense goes. Last year, we had two, maybe three

guys who could score, but now, we have much more than that.”

Now in his second year as a goalie-turned-goal-scorer, Bowlus is glad

to be putting balls into the net instead of stopping them.

“I was talking with Coach (John) Vargas the other day about my moving

from goalie,” Bowlus recalled. “We both agreed that it definitely was the

right move to make.”

The key to Bowlus’ goal success, besides being 6-6? “I don’t go out

there trying to score on every play,” he said. “I never go into a game

thinking, ‘I’ve got to score six goals or we won’t win.’ I just try to

relax and let the game come to me.”

Another coach excited about Bowlus’ athletic maturity is CdM

basketball skipper Paul Orris, who will have the big guy’s services for

the upcoming season after water polo.

“I didn’t play last year so I could train for water polo, but this

year, I’m definitely going to play,” Bowlus said. “Basketball is my

favorite sport, but I’m better in water polo. I’d like to play water polo

in college, but for basketball, I’m just going to go out there and have

fun. Plus, we should have a pretty darn good team.”