DOWNEY – The Warren High School girls’ cross country team placed 12th at the state cross country championships last Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno. 

Great Oak (44) finished first, followed by Davis (46), Arcadia (119), Buchanon (165), Monte Vista (186), Clovis North (201), Long Beach Poly (206), Yucaipa (232), Ventura (236), San Ramon Valley (257), Homestead (297) and Warren (299). 

Interestingly, Warren defeated Arcadia, Long Beach Poly, Yucaipa and Ventura at C.I.F. Prelims and C.I.F. Finals in qualifying for the state meet.

The Lady Bears top five runners finished 23rd, 38th, 71st, 79th and 88th in a team time 1:35:56. Gwendolyn Hurtado finished in 18:27.5, Trinity Gomez finished in 18:49.2, Samantha Tabares finished in 19:25.6, Janeane Hernandez finished in 19:33.5 and Carlota Conant finished in 19:39.5. Warren’s sixth and seventh runners Blanca Robles and Rosie Santana finished in 20:02.3 and 21:12.6, respectively.

Coach Waldron, his staff and runners have now concluded their season. The Lady Bears finished second at C.I.F. Prelims in heat 2, third at C.I.F. Finals to qualify for the state meet and 12th at the state meet. 

This has been a very rewarding season for the Warren girls’ cross country team as they have now qualified for the state meet for the second time in the last seven years. Next year’s team will have four of their top seven runners returning for their senior seasons. 

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The Downey High School boys’ basketball team defeated Compton Centennial 73-43 on Monday night in the Buena Park Tournament in their season opener. 

The Vikings are 1-0 on the young season and will play through Dec. 5 in this tournament. Downey will be led this season by senior captains Tyler Dees and Mark Garza.

Downey will play Lakewood at Downey on 12/11, Cerritos at the Staples Center on 12/21 and M.L. King of Riverside at the Maxpreps Holiday Tournament in Cathedral City on 12/26. The Vikings are also scheduled to play Rincon on 12/28 and Simi Valley on 12/29 in the same tournament. 

Downey will continue their preseason schedule against California High at Downey on 1/5 and at Sunny Hills of Fullerton on 1/8. The Vikings will begin their S.G.V.L. schedule against Dominguez at Dominguez on 1/13, against Lynwood at Downey on 1/15, against Warren at Warren on 1/20, against Gahr at Gahr on 1/22 and against Paramount at Downey on 1/27.

Downey finished last season with an overall record of 18-9 and were 6-4 in San Gabriel Valley League play. The Vikings lost to San Clemente at San Clemente 54-43 in the first round of the C.I.F. Division 1AA playoffs. 

Downey finished league play last season behind Gahr (26-8, 9-1) and Lynwood (20-8, 8-2), respectively. Coach Shelton, his staff and players are looking forward to the start of the 2015-16 basketball season. 

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The Downey High School wrestling team competed in its first dual meet Wednesday evening against Laguna Hills at Laguna Hills. 

The frosh-soph and junior varsity matches both started at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity match started at 7 p.m. (results unavailable at press time). The Vikings will travel to Bakersfield tomorrow to compete in an individual tournament.

Downey is the returning S.G.V.L. champion and look strong again this season. Several varsity wrestlers return from last year’s league championship team with more experience and skill. A hand-full of junior varsity wrestlers are also stepping up to varsity level competition to take over for wrestlers who either went up in weight or graduated. 

Jonathan Prata will wrestle 105, Dylan Ajtun will wrestle 115 and Roland Dominguez will wrestle 122. Mathew Morales will wrestle 128, Ariel Ramirez will wrestle 134 and Armando Padilla will wrestle 140. 

Adrian Segovia will wrestle 147, Giovanni Leon will wrestle 154 and Pablo Ochoa will wrestle 162. Nic Arrellano will wrestle 172, Adrian Guerra will wrestle 184 and Immanuel Bravo will wrestle 197. Bradley Russell will wrestle 222 and Leo Benitez will wrestle heavyweight (287).
Coach Soto, his staff and wrestlers are looking forward to the start of the 2015-16 wrestling season and competing for another S.G.V.L. title. Paramount and cross-town rival Warren will once again provide competition for the Vikings. 

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The middle school sports season has reached the midway point of the second season. 
The second season includes boys’ volleyball for 6th, 7th and 8th grade students and girls’ soccer for an 8th grade team (varsity) and a 6th and 7th grade team (junior varsity).
In 8th grade boys’ volleyball, Doty is 3-0, Griffiths is 1-2, Stauffer is 1-2 and Sussman is 1-2. In 7th grade boys’ volleyball, Doty is 2-1, Griffiths is 2-1, Sussman is 2-1 and Stauffer is 0-3. In 6th grade boys’ volleyball, Griffiths is 3-0, Doty is 2-1, Stauffer is 1-2 and Sussman is 0-3.
In varsity girls’ soccer, Stauffer is 3-0, Doty is 2-1, Griffiths is 0-2-1 and Sussman is 0-2-1. In junior varsity girls’ soccer, Doty is 3-0, Griffiths is 2-1, Stauffer is 1-2 and Sussman is 0-3.

The second round of games began yesterday as Doty played Sussman and Griffiths played Stauffer. Doty will play Griffiths and Sussman will play Stauffer on Tuesday. The final games of the boys’ volleyball and girls’ soccer seasons will have Stauffer playing Doty and Sussman playing Griffiths.

The third and busiest sports rotation will begin in January. The third rotation will feature boys’ 6th, 7th and 8th grade basketball teams as well as girls’ 6th, 7th and 8th grade basketball teams. There will also be an 8th grade team of boys’ soccer (varsity) and a 6th and 7th grade team of boys’ soccer (junior varsity). Eight total teams will be competing for city championships in their respective gender and grade levels.