DOWNEY - The Warren High School girls' swim team has finished their season as undefeated S.G.V.L. champions and finished league finals claiming league championships in nine out of 11 events.Warren finished with 189 points followed by cross-town rival Downey with 122, Gahr with 87 and Paramount with 50 points, respectively. Warren's 200 medley relay of Danniella Flores, Jocelyn Castro, Valerie Orozco and Brittney Baron claimed a league title. Kayla Casas won the 200 freestyle, Valerie Orozco won the 200 IM as well as the 100 butterfly. Brittney Baron won the 500 freestyle. Star Meza, Danniella Flores, Kayla Casas and Destiny Hernandez won the 200 freestyle relay. Danniella Flores won the 100 backstroke and Kim Shepherd won the 100 breaststroke. The Lady Bears also won the 400 freestyle relay with Valerie Orozco, Destiny Hernandez, Kim Shepherd and Brittney Baron. The Lady Bears set six new records with these league championship times. Warren participated in C.I.F. last week and placed 12th out of 88 teams represented. The Lady Bears placed 12th in the 200 medley relay, Valerie Orozco finished 6th in the 200 IM and 5th in the 100 butterfly. Brittney Baron finished 17th in the 500 freestyle and the Lady Bears finished 10th in the 200 freestyle relay and 6th in the 400 freestyle relay. Coach Cordero mentioned that Kelly Tovalin really performed well at the end of the season in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. Tovalin was one of the most consistent swimmers all season. Kayla Casas finally had a breakout performance at C.I.F. Casas dropped 2 seconds in her 100 freestyle swim at C.I.F. Valerie Orozco swam her way to her best times at C.I.F. Finals and placed in the top ten in both of her individual events. Orozco is only a freshman. Surprisingly,with all this success, Warren only loses one senior from this squad that competed in C.I.F. (Danniella Flores). With a 12th place finish at C.I.F. this year, Coach Cordero is shooting for a top ten finish next year. Coach Cordero concluded by saying that "the swim season is so short and there is very little room for error when you get to the end of your season. The regular season ended on a great showing at league finals and then the C.I.F. group followed up with some nice performances at finals." Coach Cordero maintains that it's nice to end your season on a high note and is already looking forward to next season.

********** Published: May 17, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 05