DOWNEY – The Warren High School Athletic Department hosted their annual Scholar Athlete Signing Recognition Day yesterday in the Library. The ceremony started at 1:30 p.m. and recognized those student-athletes who are taking their individual skill sets to the next level.

The Bears have three boy cross country runners who have signed commitment letters. Andres Barragan will be running at Cal State Long Beach, Benjamin Gonzalez will be running at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Jonathan Rodriguez will be running at UC Irvine.

The Bears have two girl cross country runners who have signed commitment letters. Marissa Pluma and Lisa Vasquez will both be running at UC Irvine.

The Bears also have Jose Ruiz attending Cal State Northridge for baseball, Denise Gonzalez attending Westminster College for basketball and Isabella Lopez attending Cal State Los Angeles for tennis. 

The Bears have three softball players who have signed commitment letters. Nadia Amezcua will be playing softball at CSU Bakersfield, Megan Narvaez will be playing softball at Coppin State and Whitney Pemberton will be playing softball at UC Santa Barbara.

The Warren High School administration, faculty, staff and alumni are extremely proud of these student-athletes and wish them luck competing in the classroom and on the court or field at the next level. 

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It was written in last week’s Downey Patriot that Downey High School standout volleyball player Heather Schnars was going to attend Hope International University on a volleyball scholarship. It is Kimberly Schnars who will be attending Hope International University on a volleyball scholarship.

Kimberly Schnars started playing volleyball when she was eight years old. She received scholarship offers from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Sam Houston, UC Davis and Hope Internatinal University. Schnars holds a 3.5 G.P.A. and plans to study business management in college.

Schnars said that the highlight of her volleyball career at Downey was winning a C.I.F. title as a freshman when her sister, Heather, was a senior. Schnars stated that the highlight of her senior year was being selected to the Long Beach Press Telegram’s Dream Team. Best of luck in college, Kimberly.

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The middle school track and field season completed its third and final dual meet last Wednesday as Doty and Stauffer traveled to Warren on Wednesday and Griffiths and Sussman traveled to Downey on Thursday.

At Warren, Doty defeated Stauffer in six of six competitions. The Doty eighth grade boys defeated Stauffer 73.5 to 12.5, the Doty seventh grade boys defeated Stauffer 52-34 and the Doty sixth grade boys defeated Stauffer 76.5 to 9.5. The Doty eighth grade girls defeated Stauffer 65-20, the Doty seventh grade girls defeated Stauffer 60-26 and the Doty sixth grade girls defeated Stauffer 60-26.

At Downey, Sussman defeated Griffiths in five of six competitions. The Sussman eighth grade boys defeated Griffiths 52-34, the Sussman seventh grade boys defeated Griffiths 65-21 and the Sussman sixth grade boys defeated Griffiths 69-17. The Griffiths eighth grade girls defated Sussman 44-42, the Sussman seventh grade girls defeated Griffiths 62-24 and the Sussman sixth grade girls defeated Griffiths 57-29.

The District championship track and field meet will be held at Downey High School later today at  4 p.m. Doty, Griffiths, Stauffer and Sussman will all send their best athletes to compete for city championships. Six teams will compete from each school, including a boy and a girl team for sixth, seventh and eighth grade levels.

This year’s track and field meet is the second to be held after nearly a four-year absence of middle school sports. 

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Warren High School standout track and field runner Lisa Vasquez finished fifth last Friday at the C.I.F. S.S. Masters Meet held at Cerritos College. Lisa broke her own school record of 4:53.86 with a new time of 4:51.51 in the 1600 meters.

This new time ranks Lisa eighth in California and 36th in the nation. Lisa will compete this weekend at the state meet in Clovis. Lisa Vasquez will be attending UC Irvine in the fall and pursuing her running career as an Anteater.

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Warren High School and W.O.N. Fitness will be having their information meeting on Wednesday, June 24, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Justice Stadium on the campus at Warren. 

The Lady Bear cross country program is looking for young ladies who want to be challenged. W.O.N. has a unique fitness camp that hosts a variety of fitness activities. 150 girls joined last year because they wanted to try something new. Camp dates will be from June 29 to July 10 from 7:00-11:00 a.m. Monday thru Friday and works well with soccer camp.

Lali Avila, Yajaira Zarate and Dani Moreno are three girls who are running at the next level and all ran sub 5:10 miles while attending Warren. At the W.O.N. Fitness Camp, diet and nutrition, conditioning and endurance training, strength, mobility, getting into shape, meeting new friends, setting goals, having fun and feeling well will all be emphasized. 

For more information regarding W.O.N. Fitness Camp please contact girls’ cross country head coach Jay Waldron at jwaldron@dusd.net. 

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The Downey High School wrestling program will begin its summer program on Monday, June 22, at 9 a.m. in the Downey High School Gym. The summer program fee of $60 is due, along with the completed summer packet, on June 22. 

During the summer, new wrestlers will attend practices Monday-Thursday from 2-4 p.m. and returning wrestlers will practice 5-7 p.m.

The summer program is essential to be introduced to and to develop the proper techniques of wrestling, lifting and running essential for a successful high school wrestling season. Wrestling season is from November to March and practices are in the morning 6:00-8:00 a.m. and 7:00-9:00 a.m. This is great for your student who will be awake and ready to learn in class. There will be days when there will be a study hall in the morning and practice after school.

During summer, wrestling competitions take place once a week in the evening and Saturdays 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. This will teach students time management and prepare them to balance the many demands they will face in the future.