Downey finishes third for Commissioner's Cup

DOWNEY – The California Interscholastic Federation (C.I.F.) has announced this year’s Commissioner’s Cup winners for the best athletic programs, as well as the top ten finishers, in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions. 

The Downey boys finished in third place.

In the boys’ division, Mater Dei was crowned the Commissioner’s Cup winner after narrowly defeating Oaks Christian, on criteria, with 18 points. Oaks Christian finished second with 18 points and Downey, as previously mentioned, finished third with 14 points, respectively.
To round out the top ten, Corona Del Mar finished in fourth place with 13 points, Great Oak finished in fifth place, also with 13 points, Foothill of Santa Ana finished in sixth place with 13 points and Loyola finished in seventh place with 11 points.

Harvard Westlake finished in eighth place with 11 points, St. John Bosco finished in ninth place with nine points and Murrieta Mesa finished in tenth place with nine points, respectively.

According to the California Interscholastic Federation, “the winners are determined by a point system that provides five points for a divisional championship, three points for a divisional runner-up finish, two points for advancing to the semifinal round or third place finish in a team place finish sport, like cross country or golf, and one point for a fourth-place finish in a team-place finish sport.”

C.I.F. continued by stating, “in cases where a tie occurs the top ten schools were determined by several tiebreaker methods.” As a result, this would help explain why several schools tied with the same point totals but were still given a specific place of finish.

Downey Athletic Director Mark Rand reached out to C.I.F. for further clarification on points due to the boys’ wrestling program recording two different C.I.F. sanctioned second place finishes at the C.I.F. Dual Meet championships and at the C.I.F. Northern Division Championships. Once an explanation is given, it will reported.  

Meanwhile, the Downey girls finished in eighth place.

In the girls’ division, Mater Dei was crowned the Commissioner’s Cup winner with 16 points. Santa Margarita finished second with 15 points and Culver City finished third with 14 points, respectively.

To round out the top ten, Flintridge Prep finished in fourth place with 13 points, West Torrance finished in fifth place with 10 points, Great Oak finished in sixth place with 10 points and Serra finished in seventh place with 10 points.

As previously mentioned, Downey finished in eighth place with nine points, Chaminade finished in ninth place with eight points and University finished in tenth place with eight points, respectively. The Downey girls had three second-place finishes in swimming, basketball and water polo.

The 2017-18 school year marked the first time in the 27-year history of the Commissioner’s Cup that the same high school has won both the boy’s and girl’s competitions.

MIDDLE SCHOOLS: The Downey Unified School District middle school program has the Champions Cup Trophy competition where all four Downey middle schools compete against each other in football, volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball, softball and track and field.

Doty, Griffiths, Stauffer and Sussman all send their best gender and grade level athletes to compete against each other for the most city championships. The seasons are six games long and each team plays each other twice, once at home and once away. 

In track, there is one dual meet competition where each school competes against each other and a city-wide district championship meet where all four schools compete against each other at one time. The district track and field meet is where all the city championships are won. The Doty Knights have won the Middle School Champions Cup Trophy each of the past five years since it’s inception.  

FALL SPORTS: The fall 2018 academic and athletic school year is quickly approaching. Local high schools Downey, Downey Calvary Chapel, St. John Bosco, St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy and Warren have all been busy preparing their teams for their upcoming athletic competitions.

The California Interscholastic Federation fall sports schedule features seven sports. Football, boys’ water polo, boys’ and girls’ cross country, girls’ golf, girls’ tennis and girls’ volleyball will all begin as fall classes start.

Downey High School will field teams in all seven sports. DCC will field teams in four sports. Those sports will include: football, boys’ cross country, girls’ tennis and girls’ volleyball. St. John Bosco, an all boys’ school, will field teams in three sports. Those sports will include: football, cross country and water polo. 

SPX-SMA will field teams in five sports. Those sports will include: football, boys’ and girls’ cross country, girls’ tennis and girls’ volleyball. Warren, like Downey, will field teams in all seven sports.

Coaches and players from each of these schools have been busy practicing this summer for their respective seasons to begin. Some teams will win a lot of games and some teams will not. The spirit of competition will drive each coach and athlete to do their best. 

Best of luck to all coaches and athletes competing in a C.I.F. fall sport.