SPORTS BRIEFS: Warren High golfers win league championship

DOWNEY – The Warren High School boys’ golf team is the 2015 San Gabriel Valley League champion. The Bears were the dominant team on the links and finished their regular season with an overall record of 19-3 and league record of 8-0. The San Gabriel Valley League held their league final tournament April 27-29, at three different golf courses, to see who would advance to C.I.F. competition. The first day of competition was at La Mirada, the second day was at Montebello and the third day was at Rio Hondo.

Participating schools at the S.G.V.L. tournament included Warren, Downey, Gahr and Schurr. There were 28 golfers who started the competition on the first day. After the first day of play, 20 advanced to the second round. After the second day of play, the field was narrowed to the top 12. In the third and final round of play, Warren had six golfers in the top 12, Gahr had four, Schurr had one and Downey had one.

At league finals, Warren claimed five of the top six league finishers and six of the top twelve. Warren was led by first place finisher junior Bryce Goss (78-76-79-233), second place finisher senior Raffael Russo (81-79-77-237), third place finisher senior Matt Perez (78-78-84-240), fifth place finisher senior Luis Maya (88-81-79-248), sixth place finisher Adam Avalos (79-81-92-252) and eighth place finisher senior Jon Valdez (87-81-89-257).

The top six finishers were given All-S.G.V.L. First-Team recognition and finishers seven through 12 were given Second-Team league honors. Bryce Goss, Raffael Russo, Matt Perez and Gahr’s Blake Azevedo all qualified for C.I.F. competiton held at Long Beach’s Skylinks Golf Course Tuesday. No San Gabriel Valley League golfer advanced in C.I.F. competition. Warren will be competing in C.I.F. Team competition on Monday at Lakewood Country Club.

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The Downey High School golf team finished San Gabriel Valley League play with a record of 4-4.

The Vikings were led by sophomore Andrew Bilodeau and freshman Salvador Hinojosa. Andrew Bilodeau had the low round of the year and Salvador Hinojosa was given Second-Team All-S.G.V.L. honors for his play at the three-day league final tournament. Hinojosa placed 12th out of 28 golfers. The tournament was played at La Mirada, Montebello and Rio Hondo Golf Courses, respectively.

Downey’s top finishers at league finals were 12th place Sal Hinajosa (88-85-92-265), 14th place Andrew Bilodeau (92-89), 21st place Luis Guerrero (96), 24th place John Guido (100), and 26th place finishers Nicolas Ventura (111) and Justin Sanford (111).

The Vikings competed in the Herald Invitational and Knabe Cup Golf Tournaments during the regular season and finished mid-pack in both. According to head coach Drew Heidecker, “this was a rebuilding season as we lost eight seniors from the previous year.” Heidecker continued by saying, “our team was comprised of one freshman, seven sophomores and two seniors.” Heidecker concluded by saying, “with eight underclassmen returning, this team has the talent and ability (along with experience) to be a force in league matches as well as tournament play in the upcoming years.”

Coach Heidecker and his golfers are already looking forward to next season. The Bears have been the team to beat in S.G.V.L. play and Downey hopes to close the gap on the links next season with more experienced and skilled players.

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The Warren High School boys’ tennis team is the 2015 San Gabriel Valley League champion.

The Bears finished league play with an undefeated record of 12-0 and will host the winner of the Bishop Diego/Marshall match.

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The Warren High School boys’ volleyball team finished their regular season with an overall record of 19-7 and were 7-1 in S.G.V.L. play.

For their efforts, the Bears were co-champions with Gahr (18-8, 7-1). Warren defeated Santa Ana at home 3-0 on Tuesday night in the opening round of the C.I.F. Division 3 playoffs. The Bears improved to 20-7 with the win and have advanced to the second round.

Warren received the number one league entry in the C.I.F. Division 3 playoffs due to their second round of league play victory over Gahr at Gahr 3-1 on April 21. Gahr won the first round matchup back on March 26 at Warren in a five-set thriller. Paramount (4-4) finished third in league play, Downey (4-17, 2-6) finished fourth and Lynwood (9-9, 0-8) finished fifth.

The Bears have been led this season by senior captains Gary Trejo and Brian Castro. Trejo is a setter and Castro is a libero. The Bears entered the playoffs on an eight game winning streak. Warren defeated El Rancho at Warren 3-0 on March 30, defeated Downey at Downey 3-0 on March 31, defeated Lynwood at Lynwood 3-0 on 4/14 and defeated Paramount at Paramount 3-1 on 4/16.

Warren continued their winning streak by defeating Gahr at Gahr 3-1 on April 21, defeated Downey at Warren 3-0 on April 23, defeated Lynwood at Warren by forfeit on April 30 and defeated Paramount at Paramount 3-0 on May 6.

Warren certainly appears to be playing their best volleyball at the right time. Coach Lane, his staff and players are looking forward to making a deep run in the C.I.F. Division 3 playoffs.

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The Downey High School boys’ swim team is the 2015 San Gabriel Valley League champion.

The Vikings finished their season with an undefeated dual meet record of 11-0. Downey has a two-year undefeated streak of 31-0. For their continued hard work, Downey has now won four straight S.G.V.L. titles.

This year’s team was led by seniors Mike Kim, Nick Apodaca, Preston Medina and Danny Benitez. Juniors Tadeo Marquez, Tim Nilan and Gerardo Flores played key roles as did sophomores Marcus Powell and John Choi. Freshman Angel Lira added much needed depth and swam beyond his grade level.

League Finals took place last Thursday at Downey. The Vikings had eight swimmers take first place in their respective events and helped Downey accumulate 185 team points to secure the win. Warren finished with 110 points, Gahr had 91 and Paramount finished with 62.

Michael Kim and Tadeo Marquez led the way for the Vikings. Kim won the 100 breastroke (1:05.39) and 200 IM (2:08.14) and Marquez took the 100 butterfly (54.69) and 100 backstroke (57.40). Both swimmers were on the winning 200 medley (1:44.19) and 400 freestyle (3:29.46) relay teams. Apodaca placed first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.49 and Preston Medina finished second (23.01).

Downey has nine swimmers who qualified for C.I.F. this year. Prelims were held on Wednesday at Riverside Community College (results unavailable at press time). Coach Delhousay is very proud of this year’s squad and believes that “this is one of his strongest all-around teams he has had in eight years.”

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Published: May 14, 2015 - Volume 14 - Issue 05