Warren struggles in tough preseason

DOWNEY - The Warren High School boys' swim team currently has an 0-3 record in dual meets.The Bears lost to La Serna 99-71 on 3/6, lost to Sunny Hills 109-60 on 3/7 and lost to Cerritos 107-63 on 3/14. Warren finished in second place at a tri-meet between Whittier, Warren and Artesia on 3/22. Whittier finished in first place with 132 points, Warren finished in second place with 107 points and Artesia finished in third place with 43 points. The Bears placed 5th out of 13 schools at the Kennedy Invitational held on 3/16. Coach Nichols believes such a difficult preseason schedule will prepare his team for S.G.V.L. competition. Warren opened their league schedule against Gahr at the Downey Aquatics Center yesterday (score unavailable at press time). Warren will be competing at Paramount on 4/18 and at Downey on 4/25. League preliminaries and Finals will be held on 4/30 and 5/2 at a site yet to be determined. The Bears have several key swimmers returning from last year. Brandon Yi is back swimming the breaststroke and freestyle, Jonathan Iglesias is back swimming the butterfly and freestyle and David Romero is back swimming the butterfly and freestyle. Diego Lucas is back and swimming freestyle, Leon Yao is back swimming the breaststroke and freestyle and Micah Lopez is back swimming the freestyle and backstroke. Sergio Gonzalez returns and is swimming the backstroke and Oscar Orozco is back swimming the backstroke and butterfly. Coach Nichols is very pleased with the effort of Sergio Gonzalez. Gonzalez is within one second of qualifying for C.I.F. as in individual in the 100 backstroke. Nichols also said that Diego Lucas has proven to be a great utility swimmer. Nichols maintains that "Lucas has been able to place in just about any event I place him in from sprints to distance and all strokes." Nichols maintains that cross-town Downey will be the team to beat with their influx of young talent. Nichols is looking to his seniors for their experience to compete against an always tough Downey squad. Nichols closed by saying that the Bears finished last year with a third place finish in league but were able to fight back during C.I.F. and finished 12th overall while Paramount finished 13th and Downey 36th at C.I.F. Finals. Coach Nichols and his team are looking forward to the start of league competition.

********** Published: March 28, 2013 - Volume 11 - Issue 50