WATER POLO: `BURGLAR' STEALS THE SPOTLIGHT THOUSAND OAKS STAR ADJUSTS TO ELITE RANKS.Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer THOUSAND OAKS Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. - Kat Plummer's defensive skills, which produced 104 steals in 28 regular-season games with the Thousand Oaks High girls' water polo water polo, swimming game encompassing features of soccer, football, basketball, and hockey. The object of the game is to maneuver, by head, feet, or hand, a leather-covered ball 27 to 28 in. team, earned the junior the nickname ``the cat burglar BURGLAR. One who commits a burglary. (q. v.) .'' Defense is just part of Plummer's value to the Lancers lanc·er n. 1. A cavalryman armed with a lance. 2. A member of a regiment originally armed with lances. 3. lancers (used with a sing. verb) a. A kind of quadrille. b. as they head next week into the Southern Section playoffs. Plummer is one of the area's most well-rounded players and has scored a team-high 87 goals with 36 assists. ``She definitely does it at both ends of the pool,'' Thousand Oaks coach Mike Giles said. The opportunity to contribute in a variety of ways was part of the sport's appeal when Plummer, 16, shifted her focus from competitive swimming to water polo four years ago. ``Water polo is very diverse,'' Plummer said. ``You don't get bored. In swimming, you just follow the black line. There's so much going on in water polo.'' Plummer has been critical for a Thousand Oaks team trying, without seniors, to remain among the Southern Section elite after graduating 10 players from last year's team. The Lancers (21-7), who learn their opening-round foe when playoff pairings are released Monday, finished the regular season ranked fifth in Div. IV. Plummer was MVP (Multimedia Video Processor) A high-speed DSP chip from Texas Instruments, introduced in 1994. Officially introduced as the TMS320C80, it combines RISC technology with the functionality of four DSPs on one chip. of last month's Oxnard tournament after leading the Lancers to their second tournament title this season. ``She's clearly one of the top girls Top Girls is a 1982 play by Caryl Churchill. It depicts the life of Marlene, a hard-bitten career woman who is employed at the 'Top Girls' employment agency, and her interactions with her family she left behind. in the league and (Ventura) county,'' Giles said. ``She's got the gifts. ... I tell her all the time: really, the only person that shuts her down is herself. If she gets her body in the right position, there's no stopping her.'' This is Plummer's third season on Thousand Oaks' varsity team In the United States and Canada and UK, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, or high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of but the first in which she has played a starring role. She is still getting used to being mentioned among the elite. ``It's actually kind of weird,'' Plummer said of the recognition. ``Last year, it wouldn't have happened; I was just sort of there. Then I got a lot better over the summer.'' Plummer's development accelerated during a summer of almost nonstop HP's brand name for its fault-tolerant servers, which range in size from four CPUs to 4,000 CPUs. The NonStop line was created by Tandem Computers, which was acquired by Compaq, which later became part of HP. water polo. In addition to practicing with Thousand Oaks' girls' team, Plummer was one of two girls to practice with the Lancers boys' team. She also played in the Ventura Coast club program and competed for the 16-under and 18-under teams at the Junior Olympics in Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale (lô`dərdāl), residential, commercial, and resort city (1990 pop. 149,377), seat of Broward co., SE Fla., on the Atlantic coast; settled around a fort built (c.1837) in the Seminole War, inc. 1911. , Fla. Former Thousand Oaks boys' standout Quinn Delgado, who plays at Pepperdine, has returned to work with the Lancers, enabling Plummer continued exposure to a higher level of play. College teams are expressing interest in the honor student. As for coming up with a nickname that better recognizes all her skills, Plummer is happy to hold off on that. After all, she loves defense. ``My coach always tells everyone, 'Defense wins the game,''' Plummer said. ``Yes, scoring looks good in the stats, and that's what gets most of the attention, but if you don't let them score, they can't win. So I do take a lot of pride in defense. I think it's really important. And I want to help the team in as many ways as I can.'' Heather Gripp, (818) 713-3607 heather.gripp(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Kat Plummer, in her third varsity season, leads Thousand Oaks into the Southern Section playoffs next week. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
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