Spring Sports Come to a Close, CIF Qualifications Disseminated

NATE GARCIA
Sports Editor

DAVID TAN
Staff Writer

As the school year is about to end, the season winds down for the spring sports. All of the sports teams have worked hard this past season in hopes of earning a spot in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoffs.
Co-ed varsity badminton finished third place in league with a record of 5-4. Their most recent game on April 25 against San Marino High School resulted in a 8-13 loss.
“We did better than expected [this season],” captain Helen Hu said. “We [were able to] beat Mark Keppel [this year].”
The badminton team ended their season in league with Yordy Tan placing second in Mens’ Singles, Tan and Hu placing second in Mixed Doubles and Chen Zhao and Hu placing third in Girls’ Doubles.
They will be looking to advance to the CIF playoffs later in May. To prepare for CIF, they will continue to practice and work on their footwork.
“We are preparing for our next match, then the [preliminaries] and after we find out who we play in the playoffs, we will keep practicing and doing what we do every day,” Head Coach Luis Brambila said.
The varsity softball team is also third place in league with a record of 6-4. The Lady Moors currently hold third place in league and they will have to remain above third place in order to make the CIF playoffs.
“[I feel] great [about the team’s season]; they’ve improved, have been a great team to work with and they have their goals,” Head Coach Marilyn Flores said.
The Lady Moors feel that they have played great defense this year and made large improvements compared to last season. They are hopeful contenders for a spot in the CIF playoffs and they will continue to work on their hitting and staying focused during practice in order to do so.
“[In order to be successful in CIF], we need to improve on the dynamics of hitting and looking at pitches before we swing,” senior centerfielder Samantha Garcia said.
This year, the varsity boys’ tennis team was under the leadership of a new head coach, Tom Jelsma. Despite winning the league title the past two years, the Moors ended their season with an overall league record of 0-5. The Moors fell short of qualifying to CIF as a team; however, a few players have made it individually.
“Based on this year’s performance, our team will work harder than ever in order to improve […] Our goal next year is to be qualified for CIF tennis as a team,” sophomore Douglas Pang said.
On the track, the varsity girls have taken the Almont League title with an undefeated sweep record of 5-0. However, the boys fell short of a similar record, ending the season with a record of 1-4. The Almont League finals, which determined which athletes move on to CIF, took place on May 3. Five athletes from Alhambra qualified to the CIF preliminaries, which took place on May 11.
“This year, we are very strong in every level. We showed more dedication and these guys came out here to give it their all. We had a larger team, including many ninth-graders, as well as returners,” Distance Coach Sandra Rodriguez said.
Meanwhile, the varsity baseball team was in a close battle against the Montebello Oilers for their ninth consecutive Almont League title. After the Moors were victorious with a score of 2-0 against the Mark Keppel Aztecs on May 7, the team now holds first place due to the Oilers losing 8-3 against the Bell Garden Lancers, the Moors now stand alone in first place. The Moors ended their season with a 1-0 win against the Aztecs on May 10 and have secured ttheir ninth consecutive league title.
“We have good pitching and for the most part we played good defense; [we just needed to score more runs],” Head Coach Steve Gewecke said.
By climbing back up to first place in league, the Moors have secured a spot in the playoffs and are very optimistic about playing in the CIF. They believe that if they stay focused and continue to apply everything they have learned, they will be able to advance in CIF.
“We need to score runs for our pitchers [in order to be successful in CIF],” senior right fielder Jonah Lybarger said.
In the Granada Park pool, the varsity boys’ swim team has finished the season with an overall record of 4-3. They attended the Almont League Preliminaries and finals on May 1 and May 3, respectively, where the spots to qualify to CIF were selected.
However, no swimmers from Alhambra qualified to the preliminaries.
“Ultimately, this year we did better than last year. I take pride in being on this team because we pull through it together in the end,” sophomore Brandon Wong said.
For the varsity boys’ volleyball team, whose record currently stands at 3-7, their last game was on April 30 against the Schurr Spartans where they came out victorious, 3-0.
“I think this year’s team had a lot of potential, but we were all inconsistent. Overall, everyone did a great job, […] the team will definitely work on finishing games, [which] means [that] the offense needs to improve,” captain Sam Tan said.
Although the season has come to a close with many seniors graduating, all of the teams at AHS will continue to practice assidulosly next year, as well as continue to work on qualifying to CIF. Despite a year of ups and downs for the athletic teams, the Moors will continue to strive for the blue and gold.